Grains of Paradise

Grains of paradise are the seeds of Aframomum melegueta, a plant of the ginger family. The AHPA handbook names the fruit and the seed as the parts used, records the older botanical name Amomum melegueta, and gives Guinea grains and melegueta pepper as other names, to which Cunningham adds African pepper. The seeds are a cooking spice. The handbook notes that its cautions concern the larger amounts taken as medicine, not the small quantities that season food, and it reports long, heavy use among the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria, where researchers have suggested such use may add to the early long-sightedness common there. In magic Cunningham gives the seeds to Mars and to fire. They go into love, lust, luck and money spells and sachets, and they are among the herbs used for wishing: hold a few in your hands while making the wish, then throw a pinch towards each direction in turn, beginning in the north and finishing in the west.