Let’s try some “loupina” seeds!
It is one of the most valuable local products of the region of Mani in the Peloponnese. Emerging from centuries back in history, today it constitutes an essential, fragrant and beneficial ingredient to bring back from your visit there.
While in the region of Mani you will hear the locals referring to it with the name of “lipina” or even “raisin”. They are talking about a special herb with tremendous beneficial properties, which - according to latest studies- is part of the evolution of soya and might even substitute it.
The herb was cultivated in the villages of Mani area in November and harvested in July.
The farmers would use a separate part of their land where they would separate the special produce from its shell and then after the screening procedure they would take the end produce to keep at home.
In the month of August they would boil the loupina herb in large boilers by the sea and then for eight days they would let the produce within huge fennel bags to give off its bitter taste. Consecutively, they would lay the produce under the sun to dry before finally storing it.
Initially, this produce was used for feeding sheep and goats. There are still farmers that cultivate it and many people eat it while it is still fresh without drying it first.
The herb seeds are actually used as a substitute to sugar, like coffee sweetener for example, but also for cosmetic purposes.
Loupina seeds are mentioned as far back as the foundations of pharmacology, where Dioskourides (main founder of the sector in the ancient times) would tell apart the sweet seeds from the bitter ones stating the beneficial properties of both types.
Greek mythology refers to Loupina seeds too. Apparently they were part of the procedure while visiting the Oracle in Acherondas. The people seeking the oracle’s powers had to eat the seeds in order to talk to the dead...due to the fact that they contained traces of alkaloids that would bring about a feeling of ecstasy and sedation of the senses and make communication possible.
