Job's Tears

Job's tears is a tall, leafy perennial or annual grass, one to two meters high, that looks much like maize or sorghum. Its flowers are enclosed in hard, rounded structures that become the characteristic bead-like seeds, about one centimeter across, smooth, glossy and gray, white or bluish, with a hole through which the flowering stalk passes.

Two main types are known. Wild and ornamental forms have very hard shells that are used as beads, while cultivated adlay types have softer, thinner shells that can be removed to reveal a plump, starchy, off-white grain.

The hulled grain tastes mild and slightly nutty, and it becomes chewy when cooked. It is sold whole, pearled, as flour, as roasted grain for tea, and in dried form in Chinese herb shops.

Coix lacryma-jobi is native to tropical and subtropical Asia, with a range that covers India, Southeast Asia and southern China, and it has been introduced to other warm regions around the world. Cultivated forms were developed in Asia, and the plant is often found growing along streams and field edges.

The species name lacryma-jobi is Latin for tears of Job, after the shape of the beads, which resemble tears and which, in European tradition, were linked with the biblical figure Job. The genus name Coix comes from an old Greek name for a type of palm. The Philippine and Southeast Asian name adlay is widely used for the cultivated grain.

Job's tears has a long history in Asia as both a food and a medicine. Chinese records of materia medica, which go back to the classical period, describe the hulled grain, called yi yi ren, as a food and as a drug used to drain dampness and support digestion. Archaeological evidence and literary records suggest that it was cultivated in southern China and Southeast Asia in ancient times, mostly in areas where rice was difficult to grow, such as highlands and damp slopes.

In the Philippines and in hill regions of India, Myanmar and Thailand, adlay was an important grain for upland communities and was cooked like rice or brewed into drinks. In Japan, hatomugi was used as a tea and a grain, and later as a skin tonic, and in Korea yulmu tea is common.

The hard-shelled forms were widely used as beads for necklaces, rosaries and ceremonial decoration, and they have been used in jewelry in Asia, Africa and the Americas. In recent decades, the grain has been promoted as a gluten-free whole grain, and research on its extracts, including a lipid component called coixenolide, has grown, though human evidence remains limited.

The hulled grain is boiled in soups, porridges and sweet desserts, often combined with red beans, lotus seed or rice. It is chewy and absorbs flavors well. In China it is made into barley-like tea and sweet soups, and in Korea and Japan roasted grain makes a popular tea.

Whole grain is milled into flour for noodles, breads and snacks, and it is fermented into alcoholic drinks and vinegar in some regions.

In traditional Chinese medicine, yi yi ren is prepared raw or stir-fried and used in herbal formulas. The hard-shelled seeds are strung into necklaces, bracelets and rosaries.

The grain provides starch, protein, fiber and small amounts of minerals and fatty acids. Laboratory and animal studies have explored effects of coix seed extracts on blood sugar, lipids and inflammation, and a few small human studies have been reported, but evidence is not strong enough to support medical claims. Traditional use as a diuretic and digestive aid is long-standing but not established by modern trials. It is best treated as a nutritious traditional grain rather than a remedy.