Suppression
Jobs tears
Category: Food
Type
Voluntary
Introduction and description

Job's tears (US) or Job's-tears (UK), scientific name Coix lacryma-jobi, also known as coixseed, tear grass, hato mugi, adlay or adlai, and with the added botanical names of
- Coix agrestis Lour.
- Coix arundinacea Lam.
- Coix exaltata Jacq.
- Coix lacryma L.
is a tall grain-bearing perennial tropical plant of the family Poaceae (grass family). Job's tears are also commonly sold as Chinese pearl barley in Asian supermarkets, although C. lacryma-jobi is not related to barley (Hordeum vulgare). The species was named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.
Description
Job’s tears is an annual in the temperate zone, but perennial where frost is absent or mild.

Ranging from Cool Temperate Moist to Wet through Tropical Very Dry to Wet Forest Life Zones, Job's Tears is reported to tolerate:
- annual precipitation of 6.1 to 42.9 dm (mean of 31 cases = 17.9)
- annual temperature of 9.6 to 27.8°C (mean of 31 cases = 21.5) and
- pH of 4.5 to 8.4 (mean of 23 cases = 6.2).
(Duke, 1978, 1979)
It is a freely branching upright or ascending herb 1-2 m tall, the cordate clasping leaf blades 20-50 cm long, 1-5 cm broad. Spikelets terminal, and in the upper axils, unisexual, staminate spikelets two-flowered, in twos or threes on the continuous rachis; pistillate spikelets three together, one fertile, and two sterile; glumes of the fertile spikelet several-nerved, all enclosed finally in a bony beadlike involucre, the grain, white to bluish white, or black, globular orvoid, 6-12 mm long.

Distribution
Coix Lachryma (Job's Tears) is native to Southeast Asia but has been introduced to a number of other countries as a decorative garden plant.
Pink, A. (2004). Gardening for the Million
A half-hardy, annual, ornamental grass bearing clusters of beautiful pearl-like seeds. Sow in a warm spot in April, barely covering the seed with fine soil, and keep the surface of the ground moist till germination is ensured. Height, 1-1/2 ft
It has been naturalized in the southern United States and the New World tropics. In its native environment it is grown in higher areas where rice and corn do not grow well.
James A. Duke. 1983. Handbook of Energy Crops.
Native perhaps to southeast Asia, but now rather pantropical as cultigen and weed. Listed as a serious weed in Polynesia, a principle weed in Italy and Korea, a common weed in Hawaii, Iran, Japan, Micronesia, and Puerto Rico, also in Australia, Borneo, Burma, Cambodia, China, Congo, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Melanesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Rhodesia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Thailand, United States, and Venezuela (Holm et al, 1979).

As of February 2015, four varieties are accepted by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families:
- The wild variety Coix lacryma-jobi var. lacryma-jobi has hard-shelled pseudocarps which are very hard, pearly white, oval structures used as beads for making rosaries, necklaces, and other objects. This is widely distributed throughout the Asian subcontinent to peninsular Malaysia and Taiwan; and naturalized elsewhere
- The cultivated variety Coix lacryma-jobi var. ma-yuen (Rom.Caill.) Stapf. is harvested as a cereal crop, has a soft shell, and is used medicinally. It can be found from South China to peninsular Malaysia and the Philippines
- Coix lacryma-jobi var. puellarum (Balansa) A.Camus. is found from Assam to Yunnan (China) and Indochina.
- Coix lacryma-jobi var. stenocarpa Oliv.. is found from the Eastern Himalayas to Indochina.
Medicinal uses

Job’s tears is used in traditional Chinese medicine. The cultivated variety - Coix lacryma-jobi var. ma-yuen has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to “invigorate the spleen function and promote urination, alleviate arthritis, arrest diarrhoea, remove heat and facilitate the drainage of pus.”
Medicinal
There are more and more interesting and absolutely key uses for Job’s tears starting to emerge from relatively recent research. The wholegrain has rather extensive antiviral activity and possibly anti-bacterial activity, but this is not all.
James A. Duke. 1983. Handbook of Energy Crops.
According to Hartwell (1967-1971), the fruits are used in folk remedies for abdominal tumors, esophageal, gastrointestinal, and lung cancers, various tumors, as well as excrescences, warts, and whitlows. This folk reputation is all the more interesting when reading that coixenolide has antitumor activity (List and Horhammer, 1969-1979). Job's tear is also a folk remedy for abscess, anodyne, anthrax, appendicitis, arthritis, beriberi, bronchitis, catarrh, diabetes, dysentery, dysuria, edema, fever, goiter, halitosis, headache, hydrothorax, metroxenia, phthisis, pleurisy, pneumonia, puerperium, rheumatism, small-pox, splenitis, strangury, tenesmus, and worms (Duke and Wain, 1981). Walker (1971) cites other medicinal uses.
We have included a large number of observations to help show that many of these uses have been researched and found to be true.

One interesting chemical that the seed contains is adenosine, which is a relaxant, analgesic, an antihypertensive and vasodilator, and a hypoglaecemic, along with a host of other positive activity. The seed also has chemicals that are natural anti-inflammatories, but one of the easily missed activities is that associated with a chemical called COIXENOLIDE, of which the seed has quite a lot.
It is what is called an Immunotherapy chemical. Immunotherapy, also called biologic therapy, is a type of cancer treatment designed to boost the body's natural defenses to fight the cancer. It normally uses plants to improve, target, or restore immune system function. The plants this time don’t directly fight the virus, they help the immune system to fight the virus.
In other words, the use of the seed in folk remedies for “abdominal tumors, esophageal, gastrointestinal, and lung cancers, various tumors, as well as excrescences, warts, and whitlows” is well founded.
Nutritional
Nutritionally the grain is quite a good supplier of energy and amino acids
James A. Duke. 1983. Handbook of Energy Crops.
Per 100 g, the seed is reported to contain 380 calories, 11.2 g H2O, 15.4 g protein, 6.2 g fat, 65.3 g total carbohydrate, 0.8 g fiber, 1.9 g ash,
- Minerals - 25 mg Ca, 435 mg P, 5.0 mg Fe,
- Vitamins - 0 ug beta-carotene equivalent, 0.28 mg thiamine, 0.19 mg riboflavin, 4.3 mg niacin, and 0 mg ascorbic acid.
According to Hager's Handbook (List and Horhammer, 1969-1979), there is 50-60% starch, 18.7% protein (with glutamic-acid, leucine, tyrosine, arginine, histidine, and lysine) and 5-10% fatty oil with glycerides of myristic- and palmitic-acids.
Method
Coix was once widely cultivated as a cereal in India. Still taken as a minor cereal, it is pounded, threshed and winnowed, as a cereal or breadstuff. The pounded flour is sometimes mixed with water like barley for barley water. The pounded kernel is also made into a sweet dish by frying and coating with sugar. It is also husked and eaten out of hand like a peanut.
Beers and wines are made from the fermented grain.
The Chinese use the grain, like barley, in soups and broths, as such all the recipes we have for barley could be used with Job’s tears.
Wikipedia
In Korea, a thick drink called yulmu cha (율무차, literally "Job's tears tea") is made from powdered Job's tears. A similar drink, called Yi Ren Jiang (薏仁漿), also appears in Chinese cuisine, and is made by simmering whole polished Job's Tears in water and sweetening the resulting thin, cloudy liquid with sugar. The grains are usually strained from the liquid but may also be consumed separately or together.
In both Korea and China, distilled liquors are also made from the grain. One such example is the South Korean liquor called okroju (옥로주; hanja: 玉露酒), which is made from rice and Job's tears. In Japan, an aged vinegar is made from the grain.
In southern Vietnam, a sweet, cold soup called sâm bổ lượng has Job's Tears as one of its ingredients. This dish derives from the southern Chinese tong sui called qīng bǔ liáng (清補涼; Cantonese: ching1 bou2 leung4).
In Thailand, it is often consumed in teas and other drinks, such as soy milk.
with swiss chard
References and further reading
We have not included Dr Duke's analysis in the observations simply because it would be out of date very quickly.
If you go to his site Dr Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical database and type Job's tears into the search box, it will take you to the entry showing both chemicals in the plant and their activities
Related observations
Healing observations
- A comparative study on hulled adlay and unhulled adlay through evaluation of their LPS-induced anti-inflammatory effects 021304
- Adlay ( yì yĭ; "soft-shelled job's tears"; the seeds of Coix lachryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen Stapf) is a Potential Cancer Chemopreventive Agent 021300
- Administration of Herbal Complexes, Dangguijakyak-san (TJ-23) and Coix Seeds, for Treating Verruca Planae: A Case Report 021302
- Antitumor effect of Kanglaite® injection in human pancreatic cancer xenografts 021307
- Chinese medicine, Coix seeds increase peripheral cytotoxic T and NK cells. 021294
- Comparative study on the brain protection in patients of traumatic cerebral infarction treated with bloodletting at Jing-well points and semen coicis 021308
- Effect of coix seed on the changes in peripheral lymphocyte subsets 021293
- Ethnopharmacological analysis of medicinal plants and animals used in the treatment and management of pain in Mauritius 021305
- In vitro anti-cancer activities of Job's tears (Coix lachryma-jobi Linn.) extracts on human colon adenocarcinoma 021295
- Inhibitory effects of adlay extract on melanin production and cellular oxygen stress in B16F10 melanoma cells 021306
- Modulation of gut microbiota by polyphenols from adlay (Coix lacryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen Stapf.) in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet. 021299
- Neutral lipid isolated from endosperm of Job's tears inhibits the growth of pancreatic cancer cells via apoptosis, G2/M arrest, and regulation of gene expression 021296
- Osteoporosis Prevention by Adlay ( Yì Yǐ: The Seeds of Coix Lachryma-Jobi L. var. ma-yuen Stapf) in a Mouse Model 021301
- Red Ginseng and Semen Coicis can improve the structure of gut microbiota and relieve the symptoms of ulcerative colitis 021297
- Removal of copper ions from aqueous solution by adlai shell (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) adsorbents 021303
- Suppression of allergic reactions by dehulled adlay in association with the balance of TH1/TH2 cell responses 021298