Method employed to prepare Scy. 343 



Before I give a defcription of this method, it may not be 

 improper to inform the reader that the people in India, in- 

 ftead of our common kidney beans, cultivate and ufe as 

 food another fpecies of a fimilar kind, called in botany do- 

 licbos, and which comprehends feveral fpecies. Among 

 thefe there is one called dolichosfoya. This plant is all over 

 rough ; and its weak Item rifes to the height of a man. It3 

 flowers, which are fmall, fcarcely appear above the calyx, 

 and are of a blueifh or almoft violet colour. The rough 

 huflcs contain for the moft part only two feeds, which in 

 form, fize and tafte differ very little from our garden peafe, 

 except that they are flatted, ihaped lbmewhat like an egg, 

 and have a black fpeck at the place where they begin to 

 germinate*. 



Thefe feeds form the principal component part of foy. In 

 Japan they are firft boiled, and then mixed with the fame 

 quantity of barley or wheat meal (the latter is for the pur- 

 pofe of giving the foy a darker colour) ; and the mixture, 

 being covered up, is depofited for twenty-four hours in a 

 warm place, where it ferments. The fame quantity of com- 

 mon fait, with the like quantity and half as much water, is 

 thrown over it ; and the whole mafs, for the fpace of two 

 or three months, is ftirred round daily with a chocolate flick, 

 and clofely covered immediately after. At the expiration of 

 that period it is ftrained or fqueezed through a linen cloth, 

 and the liquor, which is preferred in wooden vefTels, be- 

 comes always clearer and better the longer it is kept. The 

 lfiafs which remains is again fubjeclied to a like procefs by 

 having water poured over it, and, being ftirred round for 

 fomc days, as before, is then ftrained. 



* 'Hilum fufium. The firft defcription and figure of this plant was given 

 by Kempfer in his Amxnitat. exot. p. 837, S3 8. Both thefe, however, 

 were improved and rendered more complete by Bergius in Mhandlungen 

 fa ScbwedifcJb.Atad.xxvi. p.zSi. Tnc lateft defcriptions are thofe of 

 Thunberg in his Flora Japonica, p. :8z ; and Jac^uin in Colkftaneu ad 

 hotankam ei bijl. nat. vol. i. p. 46. 



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