Warm rice for swollen testicles

Did you know that during the Spanish colonial period, rice was not just the staple food of the Philippines? Rice had little-known medicinal qualities. Warm rice, made into a poultice, was prescribed as a surefire cure for swollen testicles. For modesty, I left out this amusing bit of information from an academic paper on rice drawn from Spanish-era vocabularios of Tagalog and Kapampangan. I remembered this stray factoid recently when I fell into the rabbit hole that is Fr. Manuel Blanco’s six-volume “Flora de Filipinas” (Barcelona, 1877 to 1879).

While browsing through the obsolete botanic texts in the book, I was drawn to an entry for “PUTA DE NOCHE,” literally “Night whore,” not to be confused with “Dama de Noche,” literally “Lady of the Night.” Dama de Noche is the night-blooming jasmine, whose strong fragrance only comes out at night, while Puta de noche (Polianthes tuberosa) is a species better known by its polite local name “Azucena.” It was called “whore of the night” because its flowers open and emit scent at night.

Another plant that caught my attention was “Colocanting” (Clitoria ternatea) that I have seen online being served as part of brewed iced tea. The medicinal qualities of this plant were detailed by the 17th-century Augustinian botanist Fr. Ignacio de Mercado as: “a grass never found wanting in the mountains and the walls of the houses in Manila. It has a blue flower, very pleasing to lewd eyes because it looks very much like the sexual organs of a woman. The boys have given it an obscene name. Its fruit is like a bean (frijoles) served chewed, with some grains of pimiento, ginger juice, and a little ‘sebo de toro‘ (bull tallow) to treat painful bones and pain in the waist and lower back.” Father Mercado could not get himself to write the obscene local name of the plant, so I inquired from Cavite food historian Guillermo “Ige” Ramos Jr., who recognized it as “Pukinggan.”

Not all plants had off-color names; some referred to religion, like the Eranthemum bicolor, which I know as “shooting star” today, and was called in Spanish “Llada [Llagas?] de Cristo Nuestro Señor,” literally “wounds of Christ our Lord.” In Tagalog, its simple name was “Paraiso” (paradise) or the longer, more descriptive “Quinatoloan ng dugu ng ating Panginoong Jesucristo” (Drippings of the blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.) The opposite of paradise was also found in the tropical landscape in Higuerilla del infierno, the castor oil plant that was poisonous, resulting in its Spanish name as “Castor bean from hell.” Its local name was tangan-tangan. Its medicinal properties were described as follows:

“And thus God created it as ground gold for the poor. Its leaves and roots, when cooked and its decoction, given as a drink to a person who has an abscess inside the body, will cause [the abscess] to burst, and be admirably expelled through the bowels and urine.”

Bananas/Platano/Saguing were described as providing: “help with digestion, with chest and lungs, friend of the kidneys. [Bananas] increase sperm and the [growth of the child] in the mother’s womb; these incite ‘Venus’ [libido/sexual desire] and aid in urination. Eat sparingly, two or three, because if eaten by itself or in excess, it aggravates the stomach and makes you lose your appetite, thus more is to be eaten during fasting. [Bananas] generate bad humours [bodily imbalances].

“The best way to eat them is: roasted with sugar and a bit of wine; stewed or cooked. Saba is best and helps to mature and open all types of boils, by sucking [the infection] out and healing it completely without the necessity of other medicines than the shavings of banana roots, applying them on top as a poultice and changing them morning and evening. With these, you have admirable cures of very dangerous boils. For stomachache, the cooked roots of the banana called Botohan, cooked with Sambong, and the heart of the banana called Galayan. Apply the aforementioned, well-minced, to the forehead of one who has a nosebleed.

“Another type of banana called Tondoc, roasted and sliced in wine and sugar and sprinkled with cinnamon, is very healthy and safe, and can be given to any sick person, although it is hard to digest and choleric [produces heat]. It is also useful against ailments of the lungs and kidneys.”

Rice is described in ways more than we know:

See Also

Crystal clear glass ceiling

“If eaten toasted, it causes constipation, and if raw, it causes obstructions. Bread and other food mixes are made with it, but the best and healthiest is rice boiled with water, which we call morisqueta. Applied as a poultice on the testicles when they swell, it is a proven remedy. Clean rice mashed with Dilao is also good for swelling of the cheeks. With ipa (skin of the rice), the natives smoke (perfume/disinfect) the bangas (a type of jar) in which they drink water. Tiqui-tiqui, darac, or Rice bran is very good sustenance to fatten pigs: toast darac with salt and sprinkle with a little wine … Darac, toasted with salt and sprinkled with a little white wine, is good for rubbing … on any painful part of the body. A wine is also made from rice, very healthy and substantial.”

How much of these remedies really work? Shouldn’t we still find medicine in our backyards?

—————–

Comments are welcome at ambeth.ocampo@inquirer.net