The seeds are small, hard, yellowish-brown, smooth and oblong, about 3mm with a deep furrow across one corner. Fenugreek has a warm, slightly bitter taste, reminiscent of burnt sugar and maple. Fenugreek seed is used in Greece and Egypt and especially India, where they are lightly dry-roasted or fried to extract their characteristic flavour. One should note, however, that over-roasting or over-frying fenugreek results in an excessive bitter taste. When soaked overnight the seed coat beomes soft and jelly-like, and in this state it is one of the chief ingredients of a paste of bitter herbs called halba or hilbe, popular with people of the middle-east. The leaves are also popular in Indian cuisine. Known as methi, they are used in vegetable dishes, breads and savories. Easily home-grown, fresh young fenugreek leaves are wonderful in salads, dressed with oil and lemon. The young plants are used as a vegetable, being harvested when they are about 20cm high and tied in bundles like mint or parsley. Fenugreek can be sprouted, and the sprouts lend a pungent favour to salads.