Raisins

Statema, B. C. P.

Food & Drink

Raisins

Uva passa

Known today as: Dried grapes.
Kind: Food & Drink, in 2 older authorities
Constituents: glucose and fructose, fibre, potassium, and 1 more
Earliest authority here: Culpeper (1616–1654)
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Part Three, Chapter 4: Stronger Purgatives and Compound Medicines

Revised October 3, 2026: Tradition, lore, modern assessment, and sources extended. Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Raisins: what did Canale use it for?

In the relaxing broths taken before hellebore (ch. 5).

Raisins: what does modern science say?

Demulcent, nutritive and mildly laxative, by the British Pharmaceutical Codex of 1911, and used for mucilaginous drinks; rich in fibre and potassium, with a low to moderate glycaemic index.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

glucose and fructoseabout 65 per cent sugars
fibreabout 4 per cent
potassium ChEMBL
tartaric acid ChEMBLas potassium acid tartrate

Mechanism

A demulcent, nutritive, mildly laxative fruit (Codex, 1911); in the relaxing broths before hellebore it went in with mallow and marshmallow.

Toxic dose

A food.

Standing

A food.

Anderson, J. W., and Waters, A. R. (2013). “Raisin consumption by humans: effects on glycemia and insulinemia and cardiovascular risk factors.” Journal of Food Science 78. Abstract read · the text read

The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.

Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.

What Medicine Makes of It

Fasting, Vigil, and VisionWhat hunger and sleeplessness do to the senses.

Raisins: what lore surrounds it?

Culpeper’s dispensatory gives “Raisons of the Sun” for the breast and the liver; and the small black “raisins of Corinth” gave English its word currant, from the Anglo-French raisins de Corinthe.

Used in These Compounds

Raisins is an ingredient of 2 compound medicines in the database. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.

Raisins: what did the older authorities say?

Culpeper: Says raisins of the sun “help infirmities of the breast and liver, restore Consumptions, gently clense and move to stool,” and counts them temperate in heat.
The purging decoction: Raisins of the sun stoned, with senna, polypody, ginger, sebestens, and prunes, were boiled into the College’s Decoctum Sennae Gereonis, which Culpeper called “a common Decoction for any purge.”

Sources

[16] The British Pharmaceutical Codex (1911). London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Monographs as transcribed at Henriette’s Herbal Homepage, henriettes-herb.com. Read in full · the text read

The British Pharmaceutical Codex (1911), “Uvae. Raisins.” London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. As transcribed at Henriette’s Herbal Homepage. Read in full · the text read
“Raisin.” Wikipedia (read 2 October 2026). Read in full · the text read
“Zante currant.” Wikipedia (read 2 October 2026). Read in part · the text read
Canale, F. (1622). Del modo di conoscer et sanare i maleficiati. Brescia. Read in part · the text read

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026, and October 3, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)

Sources

6 cited: 3 read in full, 2 read in part, 1 abstract read. 1 with the abstract on file.

Corrections

None were needed.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 3, 2026

Chicago: “Raisins.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 3, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/raisins.
MLA: “Raisins.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/raisins. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Raisins. (2026, October 3). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/raisins

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