Chinese Herbal Medicine

Unlock the Secret Powers of 100+ Herbal Remedies

and Learn How to Recognize and Use Medicinal
Herbs.

By Owen Jackson
 © Copyright 2020 by Owen Jackson
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 TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
CHINESE MEDICAL PROCESSING
Motivations behind Processing
Habitat and Collection of Chinese Medicinals
Properties and Actions of Chinese Medicinal
Four Qi
Five Flavors
Ascending and Descending, Floating and Sinking
Channel Entry
CHAPTER TWO
APPLICATION OF CHINESE MEDICINALS
Combination of Medicinals
CHAPTER THREE
RECOGNIZING WESTERN HERBS FROM THE CHINESE MEDICAL PERSPECTIVE
Eastern Vs. Western Ways of Working with Herbs
Western Herbal Preparations
Herb Quality
Cultivated Vs. Wild-crafted Herbs
CHAPTER FOUR
HERBAL MEDICINE MAKING AND ITS APPLICATION
A Classic Diaphoretic Infusion
A Refreshing Refrigerant
Tinctures, Fluidextracts, And Liquid Extracts
Mixture Frying In With Solid And Liquid Adjuvants
Honey Mix-Fried Medicinals
Blend searing in with Wine or Vinegar
CHAPTER FIVE
HERBAL REMEDIES FOR COMMON AILMENTS AND INSTRUCTION FOR HOME USE
Herbs That Resolve the Exterior
Cool Acrid Medicinals that Resolve the Exterior
Functions and Indications
Warm Acrid Medicinals that Resolve the Exterior
CHAPTER SIX
HERBS THAT CLEAR HEAT
CHAPTER SEVEN
HERBS THAT COOL THE BLOOD
 Herbs That Dispel Wind And Dampness
CHAPTER EIGHT
QI, THE ENERGY OF LIFE
Qualities and Functions inside the Body
Biological Energies Used in Western Medicine
CHAPTER NINE
MERIDIANS, THE PATHWAYS OF HEALTH
CHAPTER TEN
RECIPE
White Turnip Herbal Soup
Poached Eggs and Mushroom in Clear Broth
Lingzhi Lean Pork Soup
Brown Rice and Bamboo Shoots Cooked in Dodder Broth
Fish Ball Spinach Soup
Watercress Sparerib Soup with Dried Figs
Sliced Fish and Vegetable Soup with Quail Grass
Miso Fish Soup with Daikon
Pigeon Stewed with Wild Yam and Wolfberry
Curried Cinnamon Rice
Clam Vegetable Soup
Fish Soup with Papaya and Bean curd
Pork Soup with Water Chestnuts and Red Dates
Tian Qi Chicken Soup
Pork Soup with Cordyceps and Fish Maw
Sparerib and Lotus Root Soup
Brown Rice Mixed with Shiitake Mushroom, Peas and Tuckahoe
Chicken Stewed with Job’s Tears
Dried Longan Chicken Soup
Four Herb Tonic Soup
Steamed Egg with Shiitake Mushroom
Job’s Tears and Brown Rice Congee.
Sweet Corn Soup
Black Chicken Tonic with Red Dates
Chicken Stewed with Job’s Tears
Pigeon Egg White Fungus Soup
Four Herb Tonic Soup
Steamed Egg with Shiitake Mushroom
Braised Sesame Beef
Sweet Corn Soup
Eight-treasure Vegetarian Soup
White Fungus, Lotus Root, and Red Dates Boiled with Rock Sugar
Pears Steamed with Fritillaria Bulbs
Black Sesame Seed Drink
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION TO CHINESE MEDICINE (MATERIA
MEDICA )

C hinese medicine refers to medicine gathered, handled, prepared, and

applied in clinics under the administration of traditional Chinese
medicine (TCM) hypothesis. It is a significant segment of Chinese
traditional drugs and a vital part of Chinese heritage. The development and
application of Chinese medicine have a long history, a unique theory system
and application structure, which altogether mirrors the umpteen
characteristics of Chinese history, culture, and natural assets. Chinese
medicine mainly originates from natural medicinal fixings and their handled
items, including plant medicine, animal medicine, mineral drugs, and parts
of the chemical, biological preparation. As most Chinese medicinal and the
usually used ones are herbal medicines, we frequently refer Chinese
medicine to as “materia medica” (ben cao) or “herbs” (cao yao). There are
many types of Chinese medicines. Over 8000 sorts of medicines are
recorded in old books. As of now, over 12,000 kinds of Chinese
medications are recorded and applied. They have used Chinese medicine for
many years to avoid and treating of disease. Chinese medicine has
contributed to the success of the Chinese Nation reproduction and has
dramatically helped the advancement of world medicine. Chinese materia
medica (the investigation of clinical Chinese medicinals) (zhong yao Xue)
alludes to an order specializing in the basic hypothesis of Chinese medicine
and its source, place of production, and assortment, medicinal preparation,
properties and actions, and clinical application rules.
 Chapter One

CHINESE MEDICAL PROCESSING

C hinese medicinal handling allude the procedures to medicinal before

applying or handling various preparations according to the prerequisites
of medical treatment, mixture, and preparation. It is a traditional
pharmaceutical innovation in China. To sum things up, we prepare it from
unrefined medical material to decoction pieces. Medicinal styles got from
handling raw Chinese materia medica and used for formula and preparation
are known as “Chinese medicinal decoction pieces.” Expedient handling is
legitimately a relative to the efficacy. The best preparation of noxious or
savage medicinal is an important safeguard to guarantee safety medications.

Motivations behind Processing

1. Strengthen the medicinal actions to aid the clinical therapeutic

impact. For example, after sautéed with nectar, Radix Stemonae
(bai bu), Flos Farfarae (kuan dong hua), Herba Ephedra (ma
huang), and Radix et Rhizoma Asteris (zi wan) will have more
energetic consequences for soaking the lung and mitigating
hack; after handled with Rhizoma Corydalis (yan hu suo),
vinegar, and Rhizoma Cyperi (xiang fu) that will have stronger
effects on relieving pain; if prepared with the ginger squeeze,
the effects of Rhizoma Pinelliae (ban xia) and Caulis Bambusae
in Taenia (zhu ru) on arresting regurgitating can be reinforced if
pan-seared with wine, the effects of Rhizoma Chuanxiong
(chuan xiong), Radix Angel-icae Sinensis (dang gui), and Flos
Carthami (hong hua) on invigorating blood can be increased.
2. Remove or decrease the medicinal harmfulness, drastic actions,
or side effects. For instance, Radix Aconiti Lateralis Praeparata
(fu zi), Radix Aconiti (chuan wu), Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii
(cao wu), Rhizoma Pinelliae (ban xia), Rhizoma Arisaematis
(tian nan xing), and Semen Strychni (ma qian zi) have
 comparatively large poison levels and can easily cause harm if
taken in the raw structure orally; if prepared, it will reduce the
harmfulness. Fructus Crotonis (ba dou) also Semen Euphorbiae
(qian jin zi) has strong poisonousness and drastic purgation;
however, if re-oiled, and their ice-like powder is utilized, it will
reduce the harmfulness and purgation.
3. Change the medicinal element and actions to enlarge application
degree and meet more pathogenic conditions. For example,
Radix Rehman-niae (sheng di huang) with cool nature can cool
the blood, while prepared Radix Rehmanniae Praeparata (shu di
huang) transfers its elements to warmth and is acceptable at
increasing the blood. If Rhizoma Arisaematis (tian nan xing) is
made with dried bull bile squeeze, its warm nature can
transform into cool nature, and fortifies its belongings of
smothering breeze and arresting spasm. The natural Radix
Polygoni Multiflori (he shou wu) can dampen the digestion
tracts and advance excretion; however, if handled into Radix
Polygoni Multiflori Praeparata cum Succo Glycines Sotae (zhi
he shou wu), its activities improve and supplement the liver and
kidney, supplement and lift embodiment and blood.
4. Dry materia medica decrease dampness, avoid shape
advancement, forestall decaying of herbs, and are easy to store.
For example, one must dry plant medicinals before storage.
5. Clean materia medica, for example, earth, sands, stones,
polluting influences, and non-medicated parcels, should be
expelled from unrefined materia medica, which can guarantee
medicinal quality and immaculateness. For example, earth and
sands should be expelled from the unrefined Poria (fu ling), and
the basal part of the stalk of Radix Saposhnikoviae (fang feng)
should be evacuated.
6. Use pan-searing with bran, sautéing with wine, handling with
vinegar, or flushing to alter the taste bud and smell for some
animal medicinals or other off-scent materia medica to facilitate
administration.
 7. Procedure some materia medica of mineral, animal shells, or
seeds into pieces to facilitate formula preparation and easily
break down successful parts in a decoction. For instance,
Magnetitum (ci shi) and Concha Ostreae (mu li) are calcined
and get weak, so their therapeutic segments are easy to break up
in decoction.
8. Save efficacy. Plant seed medicinals, such as Fructus Perillae (zi
su zi), and Semen Raphani (lai fu zi) should be steamed and
dry-seared to forestall growing and save efficacy. Handle some
medicinals containing lots of saponins with heat to decimate
compounds, to safeguard their biological actions, such as Semen
Armeniacae Amarum (ku xing ren).

Habitat and Collection of Chinese Medicinals

Legitimate management of habitat, assortment, and storage of Chinese
medicinals have an immediate impact on the medicinal quality and
therapeutic impact.

Habitat In ancient occasions, traditional Chinese medical doctors regularly

preferred to use certain authentic regional medicinal (s) (dao di yao cao)
because of their fine and unadulterated quality. The veritable regional
medicinals refer to the materia medica with long history, appropriate
habitat, fine species, large production, particular preparing, outstanding
therapeutic impact, and regional characteristics, for example, Radix
Angelicae Sinensis (dang gui) from Gansu (China), Fructus Lycii (gou qi
zi) from Ningxia, Radix et Rhizoma Rhei (da huang) from Qinghai, Radix
Astragali (huang qi) from Inner Mongolia, Radix et Rhizoma Ginseng (ren
shen), Radix et Rhizoma Asari (xi xin) and Fructus Schisandrae Chinensis
(wu wei zi) from China northeast, Rhizoma Coptidis (huang lian), Rhizoma
Chuanxiong (chuan xiong), Bulbus Fritillaria (bei mu) and Radix Aconiti
(chuan wu) from Sichuan, Colla Corii Asini (e jiao) from Shandong, Radix
Rehmanniae (di huang), Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae (niu xi) and
Rhizoma Dioscoreae (shan yao) from Henan, Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae
(chen pi) and Fructus Amomi (sha ren) from Guangdong, and Radix et
Rhizoma Notoginseng (san qi) and Poria (fu ling) from Yunnan. As the
production of various real regional medicinals is constrained, it is necessary
to investigate the ecological environment and cultivate innovation of these
medicinals to grow great materia medica and open up new assets for
medicinal herbs.

Properties and Actions of Chinese Medicinal

We generalize properties and actions of Chinese medicinal extractions of
the fundamentals and characteristics of Chinese medicinal capacities, also
known as “medicinal nature.” Its substance that incorporates the four qi
(i.e., the four natures); the five flavors, ascending and plummeting, floating
and sinking (of qi development or medicinal action), channel passage, and
poisonousness. In TCM, the fundamental standards of forestalling and
treating diseases with Chinese medicinals are close to strengthening healthy
qi and dispersing pathogen, eliminating etiological factors, regaining
coordination of zang-fu organs’ capacity, rectifying abnormal exuberance or
debilitation of yin or yang, and allowing the body come back to normal as
much as conceivable. Chinese medicinals can have the capacities above and
can straightforwardly target each pathogenic condition. Each Chinese
medicinal has its exceptional properties, which is also called the
“inclination nature” by ancient TCM physicians. It is said that medicinal
inclination nature can rectify the abnormal exuberance or debilitation of yin
or yang manifested by diseases. The actions of Chinese medicinals on the
body incorporate the therapeutic effects and adverse reactions. In the
facility, medicinal therapeutic impact ought to be completely and
reasonably used, while we should avoid adverse reactions as much as
conceivable. These are the guarantees of high efficacy in medicinals and
safe practice in medication; these are also the basic standards of clinical
medication. Characteristics of Chinese medicinals allude to the medicinal
shape, shading, scent, taste, and surface (light or heavy, sparse or thick/hard
or delicate, soggy or dry), which are based on the object of Chinese
medicinal (materia medica). But we summarize properties and actions of
Chinese medicinals from human body reactions to medication, which the
item is the human body. Ancient TCM physicians usually connected these
two to explain the mechanisms of medicinal action. However, the
characteristics and properties/actions of Chinese medicinals are very
different in their meanings and observation objects. They ought not to be
used discontinuously and confounded.
Four Qi

Four qi, also known as “four natures,” alludes to the four different
medicinal natures: cold, heat, warm, and cool. It mirrors the characteristics
of how medicinals affect the abundance or debilitation of yin or yang and
change of cold or heat in the human body. It is one of the important ideas of
depicting medicinal capacities. Also, another qi is called “neutral nature,”
which alludes to the medicinals not having a clear cold or heat nature.
However, this is the only relative. In fact, these medicinals still have slight
warm or slight cold natures, and they are not beyond the extent of four qi.
Medicinal natures (cold, heat, warm, and cool) are summarized from the
medicinal reactions on the human body and are inverse to the cold or heat
property of treated diseases. We resolve medicinal natures according to the
medicinal reaction on the human body and are relative to the cold or heat
property of disease and syndrome. Medicinals that can ease or eliminate
heat patterns have a cold or cool nature. For example, Gypsum Fibrosum
(shi gao) and Radix et Rhizoma Sophorae Tonkinensis (shan dou gen) can
treat the heat pattern with side effects of fever, thirst, swelling, and pain of
the throat, and rosy composition and eyes, and can clear heat and drain fire,
and diminish sore throat and resolve poisons. We consider these medicinals
as cold/cool.
Conversely, medicinals that can soothe or eliminate cold patterns usually
have heat or warm nature. For example, Rhizoma Zingiberis (gan jiang),
Cortex Cinnamomi (rou gui), and Radix Aconiti Lateralis Praeparata (fu zi)
can treat the cold pattern with manifestations of cold pain in the stomach
cavity and abdomen, the extraordinary cold of the four appendages because
of cold moving proximally (sì zhī jué nì), and pale appearance, and have the
effects of warming the inside and dissipating cold, and reestablishing yang
to save counterflow (abandonment). They indicate these medicinals as
having warmth or heat by nature. We must choose medicinals according to
the medicinal nature.

There are four standards.

1. Select comparing medicinals based on cold and heat properties
of disease and syndrome. Disease with heat patterns ought to be
treated with medicinals of a cold nature. Disease with cold
 patterns ought to be treated with medicinals of heat nature. For
example, high fever and over the top thirst caused by an
external pathogen can be treated with Gypsum Fibrosum (shi
gao), Rhizoma Anemarrhenae (zhi mu), and Fructus Gardeniae
(zhi zi) with cold nature; yang collapse skirting on renunciation
can be treated with Radix Aconiti Lateralis Praeparata (fu zi)
and Rhi-zoma Zingiberis (gan jiang) with heat nature.
2. Select comparing medicinals based on the different levels of
cold and heat in disease and syndrome. Yang collapse skirting
on abandonment need cure with herbs in wild hot nature, for
example, Radix Aconiti Lateralis Praeparata (fu zi); but the
general abdominal pains because of focus (cold in the center
jiao) need cure with herbs in warm nature. For example, roasted
Rhizoma Zin-giberis Recens (wei sheng jiang).
3. Disease or syndrome with both cold and heat patterns ought to
be treated with medicinals with both cold and heat natures. The
separate dosage of these medicinals ought to be resolved based
on the level of cold and heat conditions.
4. Diseases or syndromes with the pattern of genuine cold with
false heat or the pattern with genuine heat with false cold need
treatments with medicinals and heat nature or medicinals with
cold nature, individually. One can add paradoxical assistant
medicinals with inverse medicinal nature.

Five Flavors
They base five flavors on different effects. Chinese medicinals have sharp,
unpleasant, sweet, acrid, and salty flavors according to their different
biological activities. It isn’t just the compact summary of functional
medicinal activity, but also the real taste of some medicinals. The
hypothesis of five flavors gives a tool to TCM to reason, summarize, and
explain the medicinal efficacy. We feel five flavors initially, controlled by
tasting medicinal, and reliable with their flavors in healthy individuals. For
example, Saccharum Granorum (yi tang) has a sweet flavor; Radix
Scutellariae (huang qin) is severe in taste; Rhizoma Chuanxiong (chuan
xiong) has an acrid flavor; Fructus Mume (wu mei) is harsh in taste, and
Sargassum (hai zao) has a salty flavor. A nearby Co-relationship and
correspondence between medicinal flavors and efficacy exist. For example,
medicinals with activities of outside releasing, (qi-) moving and dissipating
are usually acrid in taste; medicinals with activities of deficiency-
supplementing and spasm-relaxing are typically sweet in taste; medicinals
with activities of drawing together, the lung and digestive organs are
usually sharp in taste; medicinals with activities of plummeting, cleansing,
and dampness-drying are usually unpleasant in taste; and medicinals with
activities of mellowing hardness and dissipating masses are usually salty in
taste. Besides, if we cannot explain medicinal actions by flavor tasted in the
mouth, individuals can again make sense of medicinal flavor according to
the relationship above. This concluded flavor is not in association with
flavor tasted by mouth. For example, Radix Puerariae Lobatae (ge gen)
usually has activities of advancing fluid production and extinguishing thirst,
venting pathogen through the outside, and advancing emission of papules in
the center, while the sweet flavor tasted by mouth can just explain its
activities of promoting fluid production and extinguishing thirst but is
difficult to explain its activities venting pathogen through the outside and
advancing ejection of papules. Thusly, according to the relationship
between events (outside releasing, venting, and scattering) and acrid in
taste, the sour flavor is endued to Radix Puerariae Lobatae (ge gen). So,
Radix Puerariae Lobatae (ge gen) has a sweet flavor, but also an acrid taste.
After countless findings and comparisons, TCM physicians gradually
realize that the medicinal flavor got by this practice and conclusion is more
reasonable and viable. In this way, in today’s practice, we decide the
medicinal flavor based on medicinal efficacy and alluded by the flavor
tasted in the mouth. Medicinals with different flavors have different
consequences in the human body.
Acrid: the acrid medicinals can dissipate and move; there-front, they have
the activities of scattering, moving qi, and invigorating the blood. For
example, Herba Schizonepetae (jing jie) and Herba Menthae (bo he), for
treating outside pattern; Rhizoma Cyperi (xiang fu), for treating qi stag-
nation; and Rhizoma Chuanxiong (chuan xiong), for treating blood stasis,
are acrid in taste. The acrid medicinals can usually devour qi and damage
the fluid (dainty fluid). So, patients with qi deficiency and fluid inadequacy
should use them with caution.

Sweet: the sweet medicinals can supplement, moderate, and harmonize;

thus, they have the activities of supplementing deficiency, harmonizing the
middle, moderating spasms, and harmonizing different medicinal natures.
For example, Radix et Rhizoma Ginseng (ren shen), Radix Rehmanniae
Praeparata (shu di huang), Fructus Jujubae (da zao), and Fructus Lycii (gou
qi zi), for treating deficiency pattern; Saccharum Granorum (yi tang) and
Radix et Rhizoma Glycyrrhizae (gan cao), for treating spasm with pain and
harmonizing medicinal nature, have a sweet flavor. Some sweet medicinals,
such as Mel (feng mi) and Radix et Rhizoma Glycyrrhizae (gan cao) can re-
fathom poisons from drugs and food. Also, sweet medicinals usually have a
clammy surface and saturate dryness. In addition, most sweet medicinals
are greasy, which can quickly affect assimilation, and cause abdominal
completion. Therefore, patients with dampness, food accumulation, and
abdominal flatulence because of qi stagnation should use them with caution.
Sour: the sharp medicinals can astringe and have restraining activities
(keeping something from leaking) and merging (quintessence). For
example, Galla Chinensis (wu bei zi), for treating constant diarrhea and
looseness of the bowels; Fructus Mume (wu mei), for treating incessant
hack; Fructus Schisandrae Chinensis (wu wei zi), for treating spontaneous
sweating and late evening sweating; Fructus Corni (shan zhu yu), for
treating seminal discharge or spontaneous seminal outflow; and
Halloysitum Rubrum (chi shi zhi), for flooding and spotting (uterine dying)
and horrible leukorrhea in large amounts are harsh in taste. Also, harsh
medicinals, such as Fructus Chaenomelis (mu gua) and Fructus Mume (wu
mei), can advance fluid production and calm roundworms. A large portion
of harsh medicinals can astringe pathogens, so patients with pathogens not
yet expelled should use them with caution.

Bitter: the harsh medicinals can discharge and dry and fortify yin; along
these lines, they have the activities of clearing and draining fire-heat,
discharging and diving counterflow of qi, cleansing, or advancing
defecation, drying dampness, and removing fire to preserve yin. For
example, Radix Scutellariae (huang qin) and Fructus Gardeniae (zhi zi)
have a harsh flavor, can clear heat and drain fire, and treat pattern of fire-
heat accumulated in inside; Semen Armeniacae Amarum (ku xing ren) and
Semen Lepidii (chime li zi) are unpleasant in taste, and they can lower and
discharge the lung qi, ease panting, and can treat hack and panting because
of lung qi counterflow; Radix et Rhizoma Rhei (da huang) and Fructus
Aurantii Immaturus (zhi shi) are severe in taste, can discharge heat and
advance defecation, and treat constipation because of heat accumulation;
Radix et Rhizoma Gentianae (long dan) and adix Sophorae Flavescentis (ku
shen) have an unpleasant flavor, but can clear heat and dry dampness, and
treat damp-heat jaundice; Rhizoma Atractylodis (cang zhu) and Cortex
Magnoliae Officinalis (hou po) can dry moisture with harsh and warm
natures and treat dampness block in the center jiao; Cortex Phellodendri
Chinensis (huang bai) and Rhizoma Anemarrhenae (zhi mu) are severe in
taste, and can drain fire to save yin, and treat steaming bone fever and tidal
fever because of yin deficiency that causes lively fire. Harsh medicinals
usually can damage fluid (meager fluid) and stomach. Therefore, patients
with fluid using and spleen-stomach deficiency ought not to use them a lot.

Salty: the salty medicinals can mellow and cleanse; along these lines, they
have the activities of relaxing hardness and dissipating masses and
diminishing constipation by purgation. For example, Natrii Sulfas (mang
xiao), for treating illness because of heat accumulation; Sargassum (hai zao)
and Thallus Eckloniae (kun bu), for treating goiter and scrofula; Carapax
Trionycis (bie jia) and Concha Ostreae (mu li), for treating solidifications
and conglomerations (lower abdominal masses; zhēng jiă), are salty.
Astringent: the astringent medicinals can astringe and have similar
activities as those of harsh medicinals. For example, Endo-concha Sepiae
(hai piao xiao), for treating uterine draining and hematemesis; Semen
Nelumbinis (lian zi), for treating seminal discharge and dreary leukorrhea;
and Pericarpium Granati (shi liu pi), for treating constant diarrhea and
looseness of the bowels, are astringent in taste.
Bland: the bland medicinals can percolate; along these lines, they have the
activities of advancing urination and percolating dampness. For example,
Poria (fu ling), Polyporus (zhu ling), Rhizoma Alis-matis (ze xie), and
Medulla Junci (deng xin cao) are bland in taste.

Ascending and Descending, Floating and Sinking

Ascending and sliding, and floating and sinking, allude to the different
propensities of Chinese medicinals on the human body. These inclinations
are inverse to that of the treated disease, but similar to the disease’s
location. It is one idea that explains the properties of medicinal capacity.
Light medicinals, for example, blossom, leaf, bark, and branch, usually
have a place with the ascending and floating medicinals. For instance,
Folium Perillae (zi su ye), Flos Chrysanthemi (ju hua), and Folium Mori
(sang ye). Heavy medicinals, for example, seed, natural product, mineral,
and shell usually have a place with the slipping and sinking medicinals. For
instance, Fructus Perillae (zi su zi), Fructus Aurantii Im-maturus (zhi shi),
Magnetitum (ci shi), Concha Ostreae (mu li), and Haemat-itum (dai zhe
shi). The clinical therapeutic effects of Chinese medicinals are the primary
basis used for deciding the medicinal nature: ascending and plummeting or
floating and sinking. For example, Rhizoma et Radix Cynanchi Stauntonii
(bai qian) can scatter mucus, direct qi downward, and is acceptable at
treating hack and panting over the top mucus, and counterflow of qi with an
overabundance pattern. Therefore, its medicinal nature is dropping and
sinking. Radix Platycodonis (jie geng) can dissipate and elevate lung qi,
diffuse the lung, and ease a sore throat, and specialize in treating hack with
abundant mucus, sore throat, and hoarseness. As a result, it has the
medicinal nature of ascending and floating. Generally, the ascending and
floating medicinals can act upward and advance pathogens outward and
have the effects of raising yang and releasing them outside, scattering wind
and dissipating cold, actuating regurgitation, and opening the orifices
(resuscitating), and are suitable for the anticipation and treatment of
diseases in the upper or outside, or diseases with depressed inclination. The
slipping and sinking medicinals can act downward and inside and have the
effects of purgation, clearing heat, advancing urination and percolating
dampness, tranquilizing the heart and calming the mind, repressing yang
and dousing wind, scatter accumulation and controlling out (food)
stagnation, coordinating counterflow downward and arresting spewing,
astringing and merging (pith), diminishing hack and calming painting. They
are suitable for the counteraction and treatment of diseases in the lower or
inside body or diseases with ascending and counterflow propensities.

Channel Entry
Channel passage alludes to the specific therapeutic actions of Chinese
medicinals acting on one or several parts of the human body. This means
that some medicinals have a special affinity to enter or interact with certain
zang-fu organs. We can use them mainly to treat pathological conditions
present in theparts of the human body. Channel section brings up where we
can use the medicinal and explained where the medicinal is successful, so it
is one of the basic ideas of medicinal nature to direct clinical practice. We
can base the formation of the channel section hypothesis on the speculations
of zang-fu and channel-col-lateral, and the efficacy of medicinals on
specific diseases and syndromes. For example, Fructus Perillae (zi su zi)
and Rhizoma et Radix Cy-nanchi Stauntonii (bai qian) can treat hack and
panting, caused by a disorder of lung work, so they attribute to the lung
channel. Sclerotium Poriae Pararadicis (fu shen) and Semen Platycladi (bai
zi ren) can treat palpitation and insomnia caused by a disorder of heart
work, so they attribute to the heart channel. Doctors into clinical medicine
can choose attributive medicinals according to affected zang-fu or channel-
collateral. For example, heat patterns incorporate lung-heat pattern and
liver-heat pattern. To treat hack and to pant with the lung-heat pattern,
doctors should choose the medicinals that attribute to the lung channel and
specialize in clearing lung-heat. For example, Radix Scutellariae (huang
qin) and Cortex Mori (sang bai pi). To treat liver-heat pattern or liver-fire
pattern, doctors should choose the medicinals that attribute to the liver
channel and specialize in clearing liver-fire. For example, Radix et Rhizoma
Gentianae (long dan) and Spica Prunellae (xia ku cao). Doctors can also
choose medicinals according to the job of transmission and change of
disease through the zang-fu organs or channel and collateral. For example,
if hack and mucus panting result by liver-fire invading the lung, doctors
cannot use medicinals attributed to the lung channel. They should choose
medicinals that attribute to the lung channel and can clear lung heat and
break down mucus, for example, powder of Concha Meretricis seu Cyclinae
(hai ge fen), and medicinals that attribute to the liver channel and can clear
heat and cool the liver, for example, Indigo Naturalis (qing dai). Along
these lines, the medicinals can clear both-liver-and-lung heat to heal hack
and panting. Suppose patients with hack and mucus panting complicate
with spleen deficiency, in that case, doctors should choose medicinals that
attribute to the lung channel and can ease hacking and disintegrating mucus,
and medicinals that attribute to the spleen channel and can fortify the spleen
to scatter mucus. Along these lines, the medicinals can heal hacking and
panting.
 Chapter Two

APPLICATION OF CHINESE MEDICINALS

T hemedicinals,
substance of the application of Chinese medicinals incorporates
medication contraindication, dosage, and administration.
Mastering this knowledge is necessary to guarantee the safety and
adequacy of medication.

Combination of Medicinals
A combination of medicinals alludes to medication strategies that merge at
least two sorts of medicinals together to use according to the pathogenic
condition, treatments, and medicinal properties and actions. In the book of
Shen Nong’s Classic of the Materia Medica (shen nong ben cao jing), they
sum seven combinations of medicinal up according to various relationships
of medicinal compatibility. They are independently action (the ability of a
medicinal for use alone), (mutual) support (xiāng xū), (mutual) help (xiāng
shĭ), (mutual) restraint (xiāng wèi), (mutual) concealment (Xiang Sha),
(mutual) inhibition (Xiang wù), and (mutual) antagonism (Xiang făn).
These seven combinations of medicinals portray the changes in the
medicinal nature after a short combination of medicinals. The seven
combinations of medicinals profoundly summarize the seven general
standards used in TCM clinical application and are the foundation of
choosing medicinals and establishing a formula by TCM doctors.
Single action refers to a medicinal used for treating a solitary pathogenic
state of some diseases. For example, in the Unaccompanied Ginseng
Decoction (du shen tang), Radix et Rhizoma Ginseng (ren shen), applied
separately for treating abandonment of original qi caused by an enormous
amount of blood misfortune. In Lung-Clearing Powder (Qing jin san),
Radix Scutellariae (huang qin), applied separately for treating seeping
because of lung-heat.
Mutual reinforcement refers to medicinals with similar viability, joined to
reinforce each other’s activities. For example, Pericarpium Citri Reticulate
(chen pi) joined with Rhizoma Pinelliae (ban xia) can reinforce the effects
of drying dampness and dissolving mucus, rectifying qi, and harmonizing
the inside.

Mutual help refers to that one medicinal that is the primary, and another
that is auxiliary. The auxiliary one can fortify the effects of the primary one.
For example, Radix Astragali (Huang Qi) that can supplement qi and
advance urination is the primary. After a combination with Poria (fu ling),
which can advance urination and fortify the spleen as the auxiliary, Poria
(fu ling) can reinforce the effects of Radix Astragali (huang qi) on
supplementing qi and advancing urination.
Mutual restraint refers to toxicity and symptoms that one medicinal can
restrain medicinal of another one. For example, the toxicity of raw Rhizoma
Pinelliae (sheng ban xia) can be eased by Rhi-zoma Zingiberis Recens
(sheng jiang).

Mutual concealment refers to that one medicinal that can stifle toxicity
and symptoms of another medicinal. For example, Herba Lysimachiae (jin
qian cao) can decrease the poisons of Radix Tripterygii Wilfordii (lei gong
teng).

Mutual hindrance refers to one medicinal that can hinder the effects of
another medicinal. For example, Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens (sheng jiang)
can hinder the effects of Radix Scutellariae (huang qin) on warming the
stomach and arresting the spewing.
Mutual antagonism refers to two medicinals applied together, capable to
generate toxicity and symptoms. For example, Aconitum Carmichaeli (wu
tou) antagonizes Rhi-zoma Pinelliae (ban xia), which can generate
significant toxicity. Among these seven combinations of medicinals,
(mutual) support (xiāng xū) and (mutual) help (xiāng shĭ) can increase the
effectiveness of medicinals, meant for complete usage; and (mutual)
restraint (xiāng wèi) and (mutual) concealment (xiāng shā) decrease the
toxicity of medicinals, useable when one uses the noxious and furious
medicinals. However, (mutual) hindrance (xiāng wù) can decrease the
effectiveness of medicinals needing attention to in the combination.
(Mutual) antagonism (xiāng făn) increases that the toxicity of medicinals,
which ought to be supportive of inhibited.
 Chapter Three

RECOGNIZING WESTERN HERBS FROM THE

CHINESE MEDICAL PERSPECTIVE

O nemateria
advantage of the Chinese medicine materia medica over the Western
medica is that it speaks to the culmination of thousands of years
of clinical data. In the West, a lot of our herbal knowledge incorporates
significant gaps of time during which information remains unpassed on, or
when entire lines of understanding broke. Consider the Native American
tradition and how little we know about how these individuals used plants, or
think about the four-humors system of Western–Arabic medicine. After
some time, with a proceeded and whole chain of doctors who used many of
the same herbs, the Chinese had the option to manufacture and record a
broad and specific materia medica based on an ever-developing system of
medicine. Although Chinese medicine has changed as the years progressed,
and the basic hypotheses have remained the same as the millennia
progressed. With the current resurgence in herbs popularity, there will,
without a doubt, be significantly more. Many material medica written in the
West, especially the popular ones, are largely regurgitations of work done in
the past. Also, Western biomedicine speculations are in a constant state of
motion; what is genuine today may well be false tomorrow. I am certain
that replication of materia medicas also happened in Chinese medicine, but
instead of getting more general, as some (popular) Western materia medicas
have, the Chinese ateria medicas have gotten more specific. In the West and
works, for example, Scudder’s Specific Medication shows exactly how
specific Western herbal medicine can be. However, many of the popular
Western materia medicas have compositions according to generalities.
For example, look up “cough” in most Western materia medicas. You will
discover many recorded herbs useful for cough, but little differentiation
among the different herbs or the different coughs for which they may be
appropriate. There are some acceptable, professionally arranged materia
medicas (and few popular ones) that avoid this pattern. However, looking in
a Chinese materia medica, one will discover the same number of herbs
recorded for cough as in the Western herbal, but find that they differentiate
into categories according to the cough for treatment, an undeniable asset for
the practitioner. Another difference between Chinese and Western materia
medicas is that there is significantly more emphasis on Chinese medicine on
the use of formulas and combinations (polypharmacy); experts rarely use
the old formulas from Western herbalism. This may involve the fragmented
history of herbal medicine in the West. In Chinese medicine, where some
same formulas composed 2,000 years ago remain unused and discussed
today, formulation and herb combinations are critical to practice. The
expression “Western herb,” as used in this book, has a broad meaning. Most
of these herbs are native to Europe, the Middle East, and North America.
Others hail from Africa, South America, and the South Pacific. Many plants
from Asia incorporated into various systems of Western herbology. There
has been the trade of herbs and flavors between Asia and Europe since the
start of the Common Era. Herbs, for example, ginger, cardamom, and
cinnamon were among the earliest traded into some parts of Europe. As
early as 65 CE, there was sufficient cinnamon in Rome for a year-long
funeral ceremony for Poppaea, Nero’s wife.

Various herbs used in Chinese medicine originate from different parts of the
world. As early as the seventh century, herbs, such as frankincense, myrrh,
dragon’s blood, and Auckland came from the Middle East. In 667 CE,
Christian missionaries from Daqin brought opium from Europe.
Between the 5th and 13th hundreds of years, there was a lot of trade among
China and other Asian countries; India and Vietnam were the first. From
Vietnam came coix, aquilaria, clove, amomum fruit, fennel fruit, black
pepper, long pepper, alpinia, alpinia fruit, zedoraria, erythrina bark,
cinnamon bark, turmeric, momordica seed, evodia fruit, sappanwood, and
areca fruit. Finally, from the Americas came American ginseng, corn silk,
echinacea, and now perhaps few something else. Some herbs used in
Chinese medicine develop here in the West as native plants, nonnative
weeds, or cultivars. These incorporate glehnia, eclipta, cyperus, nectar
nurse blossoms, and round-leaf vitex. In a talk I attended once, the teacher
stated that Chinese herbs must be stronger because we use the best 300 to
400 herbs from a materia medica of around 5,000 substances. Western
materia medica spoke to “the best fifty herbs from a decision of one
hundred to 200.” I am very certain this individual only misspoke. People
use a huge number of plants throughout the world as medicine. Some of
those are stronger, or stunningly better, or more applicable to specific
conditions than others. However, there is no correlation between power and
the country or district in which the herbs develop. Ultimately, the herbs to
treat specific pattern or condition should not be on their country of
inception as much as on their ability to treat the patient and ease
languishing. The importance of precise wording to portray medicinal plants
and their actions has being an issue in Western herbal medicine as the years
progressed. They prove this in the monograph on echinacea from King’s
American Dispensatory, initially distributed in 1899. Educator King states,
The day is rapidly approaching when these qualifying terms [Author’s note:
e.g., antiseptic and alterative] will have no place in medicine, for they but
inadequately pass on to our minds, the therapeutic prospects of our drugs.
Especially this concerns such terms as an alternative, stimulant, tonic, and
so on. If any single comment were to be made concerning echinacea’s
excellencies, it would read something similar to this: “A corrector of the
loss of the body fluids,” and even this doesn’t adequately make progress.
There is a remarkable resemblance here to the way we communicate ideas
about medicinals in Chinese medicine. This is particularly intriguing
because King’s American Dispensatory is, without question, the most
thorough materia medica written in American history. This monumental bit
of literature stands as the epitaph of Eclectic medicine (an important plant-
based system of medicine that prospered in the United States from the mid-
nineteenth into the early twentieth century). However, experts updated it
once and for all in 1898—forty years before the last Eclectic medical school
shut its entryways. Perhaps the Eclectics were advancing toward a more
vigorous understanding of botanical medicine. Unfortunately, because of
various factors contributing to the decrease of botanical medicine in North
America, we’ll never know without a doubt.

Eastern Vs. Western Ways of Working with Herbs

There are many differences in the primary techniques by which we use

herbs in Chinese and Western systems of herbal medicine. The greater part
of these relates to either preparation or formulation styles. Gaining a
superior understanding of how these techniques differ gives us knowledge
into the healing systems we have used the plants for millennia. I accept this
knowledge encourages us to create the fundamental change necessary to
understand the use of medicinal plants that, at present, fall outside the
traditional Chinese materia medica through the eyes of Chinese medicine.
The formulation is the primary mode where Chinese herbalists use
botanicals, an idea regularly overlooked in Western herbology, at least as
proved by many of the popular items available in health food stores and
markets. When Chinese herbalists see a patient, they consider formulas that
may be useful for that patient.
In contrast, the Western herbalist have to think as far as individual herbs
that may show beneficial to the case. The two ways of seeing have
inalienable advantages, but seeing with an eye from each point of view is
perhaps helpful. From one viewpoint, some formulas may address the
pattern (s) at hand. There may be certain herbs that can suitable to change
the representative formula to best suit the individual case. The Chinese
herbalist formulates thusly as a matter obviously, but many Western
herbalists take a stab at straightforward, to-the-point solutions. This keeps
formulas small and makes it easier to stick point potential issues, and along
these lines, decide how to change a particular formula.
Further, the heft of Western formulas centered accurately around the
treatment standard to treat a specific disease rather than a constellation of
manifestations that make up Chinese medicine patterns. For example, the
formula may address just an acute manifestation of a disease, with minor
consideration for different side effects that make up fundamental patterns
and may contribute to the acute illness. Western herbal preparation
techniques are also somewhat different from those used in Chinese
medicine. The most significant difference is the large number of colors
apportioned in the West, compared with a relatively insignificant number of
colors administered in China.

In Chinese medicine, the vast majority of preparations are water extracts

and, as of late, an ever-increasing number of powdered extracts (especially
in Taiwan). Most of the water extracts are straightforward decoctions. This
means the herbs got stewed in a pot of water for the appointed time,
strained, and drunk. (Some notable exemptions are uncaria [gōu téng], mint
[bò hé], agastache [huò xiāng], and few different aromatics, added
throughout the previous five minutes of a decoction or sometimes
incorporated as powders into a completed decoction.) despite this, there is a
long tradition of medicated wines in Chinese medicine, dating back to at
least the Shang Dynasty (1766–1122 BCE). Furthermore, Chinese herbalists
endorse powdered or strong extracts, which are nonexistent in Western
herbal practice (except for present-day phytomedicines that make up a
relatively small part of many clinicians’ collection). Powdered or
concentrated extracts are relatively new to Chinese medicine, having being
presented from Japan in the late 1950s. These are pharmaceutical grade
water extracts. Although some traditional colors got from Chinese
medicine, as far as I know, we use a few in present-day Chinese medicine.
In contrast, the variety of extraction techniques used in the West, from cold-
water mixtures to percolation extracts, represents our perspective. These
extraction forms are scientific, based on particular “active” chemical
constituents and how best to extract them. It is this information that
characterizes how each medicinal is prepared. According to Chinese
medicine, “a little alcohol warms the inside and supplements the qì while it
raises clear yáng and enlivens the blood” and “... alcohol opens the veins,
wards off cold qì, arouses the spleen and warms the inside, and moves (i.e.,
makes more capable) the power of medicinals.” Although the small quantity
of alcohol-endorsed as part of color is inconsistently an issue, we cannot
overlook alcohol as a lively power. We should deliberate on it for each
patient. Alcohol has a lively power of being “up bearing and scattering,
heating and also dampening.” We must take this into account before we
send our patients out of the workplace with any preparation that contains
alcohol. Because many yīn supplementing herbs will weigh heavily with
polysaccharides and different sugars that are water dissolvable, not alcohol
dissolvable, and the use of alcohol in a preparation impairs the ability of the
dissolvable (water) to carry out its responsibility viably.

Also, the warm, scattering energy of the alcohol can evaporate or upset yīn.
Then again, because of this warming and scattering energy, alcohol is well
appropriate for clinical applications. For example, treating cold-damp, most
wind diseases, and, when used carefully, yáng or even qì vacuity. However,
colors may be safely and viably applied in other clinical pictures, as
detailed in this book’s materia medica area. Another major difference
between Eastern and Western herb preparation strategies is that Western
herbalism has largely lost “páo zhì” in Chinese medicine. This term has a
lot of broader meaning in Chinese, regularly comprehended in the West. I
use it here in the narrower way. The westerners regularly comprehend—that
is, to show specific ways of preparing medicinals that change their
capacities and indications (e.g., nectar blend singed licorice). Páo zhì,
which translates as “handling of medicinals,” relates to any technique used
to prepare for clinical use. Although the phrase alludes to any procedure
important in preparation, including washing and cutting, and when we
consider páo zhì, we consider forms like nectar blend broiling, steaming, or
ginger-handling. These are strategies used to prepare medicinals before
their final handling for ingestion by the patient. These strategies for treating
herbs were once basic in Western herbal medicine, and there is proof of
such use in Native American medicine and different systems. For example,
in his Complete Herbal and English Physician, Nicholas Culpeper had this
to say about caraway: “. . . some seed wounded and seared, laid hot in a bag
or twofold cloth to the lower parts of the tummy, eased the breeze colic
pains.” Some other more seasoned herbals of Europe, for example,
Parkinson’s and Salmon’s, talk about similar preparations. I have a big deal
of enthusiasm for the subject of traditional Chinese páo zhì, likely because
of my background in the culinary arts, and have attempted to adopt some of
it into my practice. Much of the methods are very basic and add an
intriguing measurement to the flavor and qì—and hence the capacities and
indications—of the final preparation. A darling gourmet specialist once let
me know, “Each dish needs a special bit of affection because the patron
who eats the dish can feel that energy.” I accept that we can lively effect
some of these special preparations through the hands of the individual who
prepares them. Throughout the book, you will discover portrayals of
Western medicinals with which I have tested using some of these strategies.
I have included just the ones I use regularly and accept to be helpful in
practice. There are many ways to prepare these and different plants, and I
would like to reveal a greater number of them later on.

Western Herbal Preparations

This area is a concise prologue to some different ways we prepare Western
herbs. I mean it to help acquaint practitioners, particularly Chinese
herbalists, with the variety of preparations available to them when using
Western medicinals. I trust it also inspires some to learn to make some of
these preparations to offer patients hand-crafted items, tailored to their
specific needs. However, regardless of whether you conclude, you would
prefer not to make them yourself. This segment will fill in as a diagram of
how they prepare the medicines and allow you to make great choices when
purchasing them from the many fine companies who specialize in such
items. We recommend Western herbs in many structures, the most widely
recognized of which are alcohol-based colors. The popularity of colors is
because of ease and patient compliance—the same reason many Chinese
medicine practitioners use powdered and fluid extracts. I have discovered
that remembering Western herbs for traditional teas combined with Chinese
herbs isn’t just interesting, but also an excellent way to integrate them into
the practice of traditional Chinese herbology. Besides, I frequently prepare
my colors of Chinese herbs to use in formulas with my favorite Western
herbs. I locate this as an excellent and powerful tool in the facility.
Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there is no decent hotspot for powdered
extracts of Western herbs (except if you are ready to purchase large
volumes). The way toward preparing them is far too tedious for most
private practitioners. For the individuals intrigued, however, the following
chapter portrays several basic medicine-making procedures that may be
suitable with either Western or Chinese herbs.

Colors are extracts made using alcohol and water as solvents to extract and
hold the “active constituents” in a fluid arrangement. This is an excellent
way of extracting and taking herbs. Water is the most popular dissolvable,
and alcohol is a nearby second. Different solvents used incorporated
glycerin, which is like alcohol as solvents, and vinegar. Vinegar is anything
but an excellent dissolvable for most herbs, although it accomplishes work
rather well for a couple. Several large companies and a huge number of
smaller regional companies give the vast majority of the colors on the U.S.
market. The right percentage of alcohol in colors varies because the
constituent base of medicinal plants varies dramatically. All alcohol-based
colors contain at least 18 to 20 percent alcohol to eliminate the chance of
spoilage, except if we add either glycerin or vinegar. For instance, vex leaf
comprises, mostly water-solvent constituents, and along these lines requires
just a minimal amount of alcohol for extraction and preservation, perhaps
just 25 to 30 percent. Different herbs, such as milk thorn seed, require the
strongest alcohol available, usually 95 percent since its major constituents
are dissolvable just in alcohol. This is also valid for resinous herbs. Tars are
alcohol solvent rather than water dissolvable. So, herbs that contain these
substances require a higher percentage of alcohol to make an appropriate
extraction. We may make colors with either new or dried herbs. Most
companies use dry herbs for many of their extracts because it is easier to
work with dry plant matter than new. You must prepare new material
immediately to guarantee that the herbs won’t ruin and that the extraction is
best in class. Some herbs process better when new, others process better
when dry. There are many suppositions about which strategy is ideal, and
the debate will probably proceed where colors exist, but I accept that much
of the time, new is ideal. Unfortunately, new material isn’t always available.
The dry material available is superior to the available new material (a
choice made at the watchfulness of the company delivering the extract).

Further, regardless of whether new or dry is best, may vary according to the
therapeutic application. For example, an extract of new ginger is more
scattering on the outside, while an extract made from dried ginger is more
appropriate for warming the inside. Many commercially available colors
give a ratio of herb to fluid extract on their labels. This information is
valuable but not well comprehended by many purchasers or even many
practitioners. A ratio of about 1:5 or 1:3 speaks to the amount of herb to
dissolvable in the item. For a 1:5 extract (the standard color ratio), “1”
represents to the amount of herb and “5” speaks to the amount of
dissolvable or menstruum (a technical term depicting the dissolvable or
fluid that will break up the medicinal properties of the herb). This means for
each 1 gram of herb, it delivers 5 milliliters of extract. This may appear to
be absurd. For what reason would anyone “water down” the herbs? Why
not make colors in a ratio of 1:1, or even 5:1? The reason we make the
reason color at a ratio of 1:5 is that it takes that much are dissolvable to
extract the total constituents from the plant. Fluid extracts in a ratio of 1:1
or 5:1 are concentrated in the lab. These extracts are more intense and
usually held for professional use. The difference between a therapeutic and
a potentially dangerous dosage is smaller than it is with a standard color.
Few companies produce several sorts of fluid extracts. A fluid extract is one
in which we spoke the herb to in the extract at a 1:1 ratio. This means that
each milliliter of extract speaks to 1 gram of herb. This kind of extract
ought to have a lot of stronger flavor than a color made from the same herb
and should require a lower dosage to achieve the same therapeutic impact.
Although more intense, we do not find these extracts in the customer-based
retail market because of their quality and the potential for a layperson to use
them inappropriately. These extracts are also more labor concentrated and,
in this manner, more costly. A pill or powder is the least desirable way to
take herbs, partly because of the poor quality frequently available to the
buyer. Not all pills need to be of inferior quality. However, many of the
most available herbal pills come from granulating the herbs into a powder,
squeezing them into a structure using a folio. This procedure leaves a lot
wanted. The power of powdered herbs reduces dramatically over a brief
timeframe. There is also some question about the body’s ability to absorb
herbs in powdered structure (rather than extracted; see underneath). They
require the stomach related tract itself to extract the medicinal segments.
Since so many of our patients have stomach related difficulties, this could
introduce an actual issue for some.

In addition, the amount of physical matter the patient ingests is so minute,

leading to dosage issues. It is difficult to ingest enough pills to get an
appropriate portion of the medicine. This does not mean to infer that pills
and powders made thusly are futile, just that there are better ways to take
herbal medicine that are more successful and less wasteful. Pills made from
extracts are considerably more desirable. Many pills available on the
market, including those little round black Chinese tea pills, are made thusly.
Strong extracts are made by first making a fluid extract and then
evaporating the dissolvable, leaving behind just the principal part of the
medicinal extracted by the fluid dissolvable. These extracts hold up
preferable to the components over powdered herbs, and their power is also
dramatically better. Extracts are all the more easily absorbed in the stomach
related tract. Some companies join powdered herbs with extracted herbs in
pills, which is a decent way to keep the expense of the item reasonable
since pills made from extracted herbs will undoubtedly be more costly.
Many other herbal preparations are also available on the Western market,
from salves and creams to beauty care products made with herbal
extractions.
There are many general standards to notice while considering the vast
number of items appearing on Western racks. Suppose the item contains
herbal extracts along with a lot of substances that appear to be single
chemicals, purchasers beware. Many items incorporate few herbs so the
manufacturer can claim it is “natural” or “herbal.” If they make the herbal
extract with a plant from the rain backwoods, purchased with the caveat that
several acres of rain woods are being demolished daily. Is the item you are
purchasing contributing to this deforestation? If they make the item with a
special patented extraction process, beware. This is a marketing plan; there
are just so many ways to extract the herbs. If the company claims you will
have for the time being therapeutic success or that the item fixes the
incurable, stay away. You may say, but these plans work on clueless
individuals consistently (even professionals) with many items.

Herb Quality

Herb quality is a vitally important issue. In the Chinese herb market, it is

regularly difficult to get what most Western herbalists call excellent quality
herbs, although there are few excellent Chinese herb companies. We expect
this, in part, to the differences in quality inclinations among practitioners
and the postage of plants. Chinese herbs become halfway around the world
and then delivered here by boat, which may affect their quality. Western
herbalists underwent the training to dismiss low-quality herb material,
whereas until relatively as of late, Chinese herbalists haven’t had a lot of
decision. Fortunately, this situation is changing, but there is next to no
guidance in Chinese medicine schools concerning herbs quality. There is
also some question about what “great quality” means regarding Chinese
herbs. Chinese medicine practitioner’s native to China frequently favors
some herbs over others. But unfortunately, this may have more to do with
the company (family) with which the herbs originated than with the quality
of the herbs themselves. Fortunately, the difficulty is being defeated by
importing excellent material from China and, on a small scale, via
cultivations here in the West.
Herbs are medicine and we have to treat it so. In this manner, quality is of
most extreme importance. Regardless of whether planned for internal or
external applications, quality plays an important job in determining the
difference between items that work well and items that didn’t. Mass herbs
sold in the health food stores and to the practitioners in America today are
not of the highest quality. There are several reasons for this. The most
important is the manner wherein they handle the herbs, and available for
purchase. When they gather the herb, either from the wild or from the field
it’s drying as fast as conceivable without over-heating. We are to dry herbal
material in an entire structure and cut into a size for easy storage. To
guarantee the quality of roots and rhizomes, we should cut them before
drying so they dry rapidly. In the commercial Western herb market, they
handle most plants using a technique called “cut and sift.” This means that
the dried herbs run through a hammer plant and slice to a size that will pass
through a small sifter. This makes the herbs easier for packaging but is
problematic because an enormous amount of plant surface area is ex-
presented to air. The presentation to air allows for greater oxidation, and the
quality of a herb handled thusly will decrease a lot faster than that of herbs
left in larger parts. This is an important issue in the American market, the
one all practitioners should know about and worried about. The quality and
therapeutic value of a herb rely on its time of harvest. Therefore, it is
important to decide if they harvested the plant at the right time or beyond its
prime. It is difficult to respond to such a question when the herb is already
cut and sifted into small pieces. A herb broken into larger parts (leaving the
leaf as entire as conceivable, for example) will keep its medicinal value for
a longer time.

Consequently, powdered herbs speak to the least desirable way to purchase

herbs. The powdered herb is difficult to assess for quality and can undergo
easy delusion. For example, a costly herb like a brilliant seal, oversold and
rapidly getting endangered in the wild, maybe cut with a cheap herb like
turmeric. Companies will pound herbs for you as a help, but make sure they
are granulating it for your request and not just pulling off the rack on an
item that may have been lounging around already ground for a considerable
length of time. Although unprecedented, sometimes there are questions
concerning the proper identification of plants sold in mass. I have been in
herb shops selling mislabeled plants, but fortunately, this is certifiably not a
major issue. There are few fundamental ways wherein to check the quality
of mass herbs. Aside from the size of the cut, which ought to be as large as
conceivable, look at the herb itself. Is it green? The above-ground part of a
plant, for example, peppermint, ought to be green with a strong peppermint
fragrance, not earthy colored and smelly. If the material in question is a root
or rhizome, one should liberate it from the earth and not stained. Blossoms
ought to keep their brilliant hues and come as entire as conceivable. The
amount of dampness is also important. Herbs should not be over-dried and
brittle, nor should they be damp, loaning themselves to the advancement of
form. The smell is also a hint, as the smell of a herb could be its most
particular characteristic. My teachers always encouraged us to smell the
plants because olfactory memory is excellent. Not all herbs have a strong
smell, but those who ought to keep a decent bit of that original smell. Herbs
that don’t have a characteristically potent scent frequently smell somewhat
“earthy,” but should never smell rotten/stale, or smelly.

Finally, the most crucial test is taste. All herbs have flavor, and many of
them have unmistakable flavors. At the point when herbal material gets old,
it changes in a way that speaks to your tongue.

Cultivated Vs. Wild-crafted Herbs

Wild crafted plants are those harvested from nature. This kind of plant
material may also sometimes be called “wild-harvested,” “wild,” “custom
wild-crafted,” or any variety of different names proposing that the herbs do
not undergo any cultivation. They develop in their natural habitat without
supplemental water or compost. Because the wildcrafter (the individual
who picks the herbs) regularly needs to travel to harvest the herbs, we
sometimes pick them when they are not at their peak. However, this isn’t
always the case, and one ought not to accustom wild be valid; frequently,
we pick the medicinals at the right time. Cultivated herbs are those
developed via various agricultural strategies. We may use many types of
agriculture to improve herbs; the primary ones incorporate organic,
biodynamic, and woods grown, and more conventional strategies. These
plants developed in the field, given special attention, and are liable for
harvest at the perfect time. What is the difference between cultivated and
wildcrafted herbs in the facility? Are wildcrafted herbs any better or more
powerful than cultivated herbs? What environmental effects result by our
use of wildcrafted herbs? What ecological hazards emanates by the
commercial cultivation of herbs? These questions are important, and, in
today’s increasingly active herb market, one must answer all of them if
these plants are to remain available to us. Among these questions are
critical if we worry too much about biology and the preservation of natural
assets.

In contrast to China, with its long solid history of herbal medicine, the West
(particularly the United States) is now coming to understand herbal
medicine’s agricultural aspects. Since the late 1980s, significant energy has
been working to cultivate more herbs for the rapidly developing herbs
market. Many farms have had the option to graceful herbs that have been
under great strain in the wild, including echinacea and others. This exertion
has assisted with easing back the decimation of wild herb populations.
Different herbs, for example, goldenseal didn’t appreciate in the same fate.
The difficulty in cultivating this herb and the period it needs to develop
before harvest hampered the advancement of farming practices for this
herb, leading to a rather rapid decrease of this species in its habitat.
Fortunately, because of some dedicated herbalists and farmers’ endeavors,
goldenseal is being protected and they now cultivate it in commercial
quantities.
It is necessary that we know about the plants and their status in their natural
habitat. I realize that we cannot all have education on the details of each
plant we use. However, we should know the issues and know where we can
get more information if we need it. Joined Plant Savers is an excellent
organization dedicated to preserving native species in the United States and
abroad. Contact them to demand a rundown of plants in danger and use it to
direct your purchase of Western herbs. I am frequently asked if cultivated
herbs are less intense than wildcrafted herbs. This is a hard question to
answer. I start by explaining that they cultivate a substantial percentage of
Chinese herbs, and they work. If given an excessively rich eating routine
and an abundance of water, their strength will decrease significantly. If we
treat them in the way their natural habitat would treat them, I accept that
their strength can be more than adequate. I see wildcrafted plants as
superior to cultivated plants regarding power and clinical value. However,
the impact that harvesting the wild species has on wild plant populations is,
much of the time, not exactly favorable. We must have a drawn-out vision
and an understanding of how to deliver herbal medicines so sustainably. If
we choose the wild populations, we will have crushed a natural asset that is
valuable and may be irreplaceable. Considering these issues, I trust we
herbalists must depend on cultivated herbs and stay away from wildcrafted
herbs as much as conceivable, except if we are certain they are being
harvested using sustainable practices. This will encourage further
advancement of farming, making available a larger determination of
medicinals from this source and increasing the quantity of those already
available.

• Herbal Medicine 101 gives bit by bit guidance on how to search for, make,
and apply for herbal medicine successfully.
 Chapter Four

HERBAL MEDICINE MAKING AND ITS

APPLICATION

H erbal medicine making is the art of plant pharmacy. The word pharmacy
means to prepare, protect, and compound medicines. This is also the
fundamental meaning of the Chinese expression páo zhì, which
translates literally as “handling of medicinals.” Western students of herbal
medicine learn basic medicine-making strategies as part of their training, in
contrast to most Chinese herbal medical students. In this chapter, you will
locate some basic directions for preparing the medicines examined in this
book. Some of these preparations are straightforward, and you will have no
difficulty making them.
In contrast, others (for example, percolation colors) are more difficult and
require time and practice to deliver great medicines. The expense of many
commercial products is, as I would like to think, outrageous, learning how
to make some essential herbal preparations gives a cost advantage. Further,
when you take your medicines, you are giving your patients excellent cures
individualized to their requirements.
Another advantage of creating your medicines is that you can make
preparations that are not available commercially, for example, poultices,
suppositories, and tinctures of less much of the time used native plants, and
nectar blend fried or wine-fried variants of Western herbs. I realize that
many individuals have less opportunity to make their preparations,
especially bustling practitioners. With this, I think it is essential to know the
basics of how the medicines got prepared and what they contain. Be patient
and good luck.
Infusion and Decoctions ; Infusions and decoctions are water-based herb
extracts, regularly called “teas.” They differ in one essential way. You can
prepare Infusions by just pouring water over a medicinal and allowing it to
sit for a recommended period, whereas decoctions are “cooked” in water for
a period. Implantations are appropriate to use when plants are delicate or
aromatic. Also, decoctions are important for plants (or parts of plants) that
are strong, and one must cook it to impart their medicinal qualities into the
water.

Infusion: There are two major sorts of infusion; hot and cold . Hot
implantations forms by pouring bubbling water over the dry or new herb
and soaking. We use this technique for lighter plant material, such as
blossom and leaf that is delicate and may contain essential oils that would
evaporate in a decoction. To make a hot infusion, pour bubbling water over
a solitary herb or blend of herbs in a cup, or teapot, or tea strainer. (The
ratio of herb to water varies; please allude to herb monographs for specific
information.) Allow the vessel to stand, secured, for 3 to 30 minutes. The
period is a function of the plant, which has a lot to do with what you are
attempting to extract. Blossom petals require a short mixture time, while
aromatic roots, for example, Aucklander, will require any longer soaking.

A Classic Diaphoretic Infusion

Older flowers 1 part

Peppermint 1 part

Yarrow 1 part

Bubbling water 20 parts

Preparation
Place the herb in a clean pot, pour boiling water over it, and allow standing
for 30 minutes. This infusion ought to be drunk warm by the cupful as
regularly as wanted. Train the patient to wrap up to encourage diaphoresis.
This formula, a genuine example of classic implantation, is valuable for
colds and influenza, with indications of sore throat and fever with
practically zero sweating. For chills, add 1 to 3 parts new of ginger to the
above formula. Cold imbuements are used less as often as possible, but
when applied appropriately, they can be of equal therapeutic value. Cold
mixtures are valuable for preparing herbs containing constituents that may
be sensitive to heat. For example, heat decimates the cyanogenic glycosides
in wild cherry bark, so we implant the bark for the time being in cold water.
Apricot bit contains the same mixes, which is why it is ground and added at
the end of a decoction rather than stewed. According to Western preparation
strategies, this medicinal would one prepare as a cold mixture, left to soak
for the time being, and then added to the prepared tea. Herbs with high
starch or mucilage content are also better extracted with cold water.

A Refreshing Refrigerant

A sun tea is an imbuement made by placing herbs in a jar and placing it into
the sun for several hours. This can be an enjoyable/delicious way to enjoy
the cooling properties on a sweltering summer day.

Fresh borage leaves 100g

Fresh borage blossoms 1 handful

Fresh lemon balm 75g

Bitter orange 25g

Rosehips 25g

Tinctures of cinnamon (optional) to taste

Preparation
Place all fixings except tinctures of cinnamon in 3 liters of fresh water in a
glass container. Spread the container and leave it in the sun for 4 to 6 hours.
Add the tinctures of cinnamon at the end, after you’ve strained the tea. Start
gradually; the flavor can sneak up on you, and once it’s in there, it’s
difficult to expel. Some individuals like to add a little honey to this
formula.

Decoctions
In Western herbalism, they save decoctions for harder plant parts, such as
roots and barks. This isn’t so in Chinese medicine, in which they decocted
most herbs for extensive periods, with some special cases, notable
yaucklandia, and agastache. For Chinese herbalists, note that certain herbs
they frequently decoct, such as those referenced above, should probably
undergo some injection or decoction for shorter timeframes. Herbs, such as
rosebuds and albizia blossoms, should not be decocted if their qì is
scattered. To make a decoction, place the herbs in a pot (ceramic, glass, or
stainless steel) with water. A typical remedy is 75 to 150 g of herb to 900 to
1300 ml of water. Heat this to the point of boiling, decreasing heat, and
allowing it to stew for 20 to 50 minutes. Strain and discard the herb. This
should leave two to four dosages of about 1 cup (225 ml) each. Sometimes,
herbs recommended for decoction are bubbled twice, and we then join the
two decoctions, and we take the tea over two or even three days. We
sometimes use this method in Chinese herbal medicine, while we endorse
supplementing herbs for the long haul use.

During acute disease, the portion of the two herbs and decoction is
frequently higher, and the herbs are usually just bubbled once.

Tinctures, Fluidextracts, And Liquid Extracts

Tinctures, fluidextracts, and fluid extracts are all extracts that incorporate
alcohol, either as a dissolvable or preservative. Colors are the most
available of these preparations at health food stores and supermarkets. The
professional preparations available to Chinese medicine practitioners are
almost solely fluid extracts, not colors. Basic depictions of each kind of
extract follow.
Tinctures
Tinctures are fluid extracts made by lowering raw herb in an answer of
alcohol and water (a hydro-alcoholic arrangement). It absolve the “active”
fixings into the menstruum (the water and alcohol) by both strategies,
maceration or percolation. Maceration Tinctures Maceration colors use a
strategy of soaking or soaking herb material in a dissolvable content. The
solvents used are alcohol and water. When preparing colors, it is ideal to
use pharmaceutical grade alcohol (95 percent). Some use vodka or different
alcohol types, but this can be problematic, and as a dependable general
guideline, I don’t suggest it. Keep in mind, if you use cheap (read “low
quality”) alcohol, you will have low-quality colors. Maceration Tinctures
develops by crushing (dry) or cleaving (new) herb and adding a specific
dissolvable (menstruum).
The general extent of herb to dissolvable is five parts of menstruum for 1
part dry herb or two parts of menstruum for 1 part new herb. To make a
color, join herb and menstruum in a firmly shut jar, keep in a moderately
warm place for about fourteen days, and (if we used the dry herb) shake the
jar daily. (Shaking is necessary just for dry plant preparations.) After this
period, press out the liquid from the spent herb (ormarc), channel it, decant
it into a container for storage, and store it in a cool, dry place. (Amber glass
bottles are excellent for shielding colors from light damage.) Always label
your medicines! The label ought to have some basic information, such as
the name of the plant, the ratio of dissolvable to medicinal, the percentage
of alcohol used, whether it is a new plant color or a dried plant color, and
the date prepared. As an example, here are guidelines for making a dry-
plant kava color. Pound 100g dry kava (Piper methysticum) to a moderately
coarse powder.
Join this powder with 500 ml of 70 percent alcohol (30 percent water) and
shake completely. Label the jar and put it on a rack. Each day, give that
bottle a decent shake to blend all the substances together. At the finish of
about fourteen days, strain off the liquid, and channel it. You will have a 1:5
color of kava containing 70 percent alcohol. We may also communicate this
as a 20 percent color using 70 percent ethanol and 30 percent water. You
can make the new plant color similarly, with a few special cases. Do not
shake a new plant color as regularly, because a new plant colors are usually
ready to undergo some strain after about ten days, somewhat earlier than
those made with dry plant material. Although, some commercial
manufacturers crush the new herb material into a slurry before coloring. It
is necessary to slash it into small pieces. Percolation Tinctures Percolation
is a strategy for preparing colors that, although technically more difficult
than maceration, viewed as better because it exhausts the plant material of
all available medicinal properties and will make a more concentrated
preparation. The technique requires somewhat more equipment, and
weights and measures must be accurate. Also, the preparation strategy can
be finicky from herb to herb. However, many herbalists consider this
technique the best.
Popular in the early and mid-nineteenth century, percolation was and still is
favored by many companies for the quality of the completed item. Although
the procedure takes some practice and special equipment, the outcomes
merit the mistakes along the way. The quantities of herb and dissolvable to
use and different factors, such as the fineness of the powdered plant, will
vary with the plant being extracted. While such specifics are past the extent
of this book, there are some standard references for this information, such
as Remington’s Practice of Pharmacy (see bibliography). Percolation is a
multi-step procedure. As an example, we should assume we want to make a
percolation using 1000 g dried herb; the amount of menstruum will vary
according to the ratio of the completed item, and this will vary according to
the specific plant requirements being prepared. Here, a 1:3 completed item
will require a little over 3000 ml of menstruum.
You must powder the herb to the best level of fineness or coarseness, which
will vary from plant to plant. At that point, we pour some recommended
menstruum over the herb, but just enough to saturate (not soak) the herb.
This blend should then sit and macerate for 6 hours in a firmly secured
container. At the finish of this time, we transfer the blend into a percolator
—essentially, a cone-shaped pipe with a valve at the base to regulate the
stream. This equipment is available at many chemical flexible houses and
from some herb graceful sites. We place an espresso channel at the base to
shield the powdered herb from draining from the base spout. This transfer is
likely the most critical advance in the whole procedure. We must pack the
herb into the percolator, freely enough that the menstruum to be added can
stream gradually and uniformly through the percolator, but firmly enough
that the menstruum doesn’t run through excessively fast. This takes
practice, and the procedure will differ with different plants. If one is to get a
master’s at this strategy, the individual must be eager to examine and make
mistakes. When we pack the herb into the percolator, we place a bit of
espresso channel on its head. We then pour a greater amount of the
menstruum over the herb until it trickles from the base of the pipe. We then
shut the valve, and we allow the blend to macerate again for 24 hours. At
the finish of this period, it opens the valve, allowing a moderate dribble to
happen. We now pour more menstruum over the herb until we achieve the
endorsed amount. When the endorsed amount of menstruum has dribbled
from the cone, we package it in an amber container, labeled, and put away
in a cool, dry place for some time later. We can percolate in the standard
color ratio of 1:5, but regularly in the ratios of 1:2.5 to 1:4. We can also use
this strategy to deliver 1:1 fluidextracts (examined underneath). These
preparations are more concentrated, allowing for smaller portions, but have
the same therapeutic value. Percolation is a more intricate technique for
making colors than maceration, and the procedure takes time and patience
to master. Although percolation is the official technique for preparing a
color, as specified by the United States Pharmacopeia and other standard
references, maceration works equally or nearly too. However, if you are
keen on medicine making, you will discover this strategy to be fun and
preferable much of the time. Know that percolation isn’t appropriate for
exceptionally resinous plants.
Fluidextracts
We can also use the percolation technique depicted to create fluidextracts. A
fluid extract is a 1:1 extract, meaning that 1 milliliter of extract speaks to 1
gram of raw herb. Percolation affords a way to exhaust the raw plant
material to make a concentrated medicine. This technique for making
fluidextracts was probably most effected by John Uri Lloyd of Lloyd
Brothers Pharmacy in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The
procedure starts the same way as a normal percolation. The 1000 g of the
herb is soaked and placed in the percolator. After the herb has macerated, he
opened the valve, letting a moderate dribble happen, and poured more
menstruum over the plant material until the endorsed amount (875 ml) has
trickled out. He held this amount while the procedure proceeds. The
following 100 ml gathered and held. This procedure—assortment and
reservation of 100 ml of menstruum proceeds until the menstruum leaves
the percolator dismal and tasteless. The final gathered part (under 100 ml)
diminishes over low heat in a twofold heater until he achieves a thick sweet
consistency, or until it decreased to the point of being nearly gone.

To this decreased volume, add the last held bit of menstruum (100 ml) and
blend all together. Proceed with this procedure, lessening so you end up
with 125 ml to add to the primary held a bit of 875 ml. Channel and jug the
end product. Always label your medicines!
Liquid Extracts; We can make liquid extracts by several means, some of
which require over one procedure to make a single item. For example, we
can make a liquid extract out of both a decoction and a maceration. The end
product is that one of exceptional concentration but has a low alcohol
content. Most American-made Chinese herbal products are liquid extracts.
These products use a significant amount of innovative equipment to deliver
an extremely concentrated item. However, because of the utilization of
alcohol and weight during production, these extracts may not always
accurately speak to the original formula. A relatively straightforward way to
make this kind of liquid extract includes a technique sometimes called
twofold extraction, which is appropriate for different herbs. The advantage
of these products is that the procedure allows extracts made with water and
heat to be added to a color, subsequently allowing for a greater range of
chemical constituents for extraction. One simple technique for twofold
extraction uses a coloring strategy and a decoction (water extraction) to
extract that is appropriate for creating liquid extracts of certain medicinals
cutting no edge equipment. To make a twofold extraction, the herb is first
extracted using either the maceration or percolation strategy. Start the
twofold extraction with a high alcohol concentration, adding about 10
percent vegetable glycerin to the blend (the glycerine is added before
maceration and sometimes after percolation). We use glycerin because we
will add a water extract at the end of the procedure. The final product
should have alcohol content above or around 20 percent for preservation.
The glycerin will also help keep solutes in a stable suspension when the
alcohol and water extracts merges. The combination of alcohol and water
extracts will cause precipitation of solids because of the relationship among
alcohol and water. Next, we decoct the marc, making an exceptionally
concentrated decoction. Then, we combine and strain the two extracts—the
tinctures and the decoction. The final extract will have alcohol content
between 20 percent and 30 percent. This is especially useful for the Chinese
herbs, partly because they have traditional endorsement as decoctions and
because the alcohol helps save them for storage. Remember that when we
make these kinds of extracts, we are using a dissolvable (alcohol) that
extracts properties from plants that traditionally were not extracted.
Therefore, the extract may not be the same as the traditional water-based
preparation, potentially changing how the plant works as a medicine.
Poultices; are topical preparations expected for external application to cuts,
scrapes, rashes, and other skin irritations or inflammations. We can make
them with new or dried herbs. The most regularly used herbs are those with
healing and anti-inflammatory properties, such as comfrey or plantain.
However, we may also incorporate many herbs into poultices. These
incorporate herbs with strong heat-clearing properties, similar to goldenseal
and California fig-wort, or strong scattering properties, for example, thorny
ash and cayenne. Joining herbs for an external poultice formula is a lot of
like creating a formula for an internal remedy. The major difference
between an external and internal formula is that we do not aim most
external preparations at favorable to reducing a systemic impact. Rather, the
solution is explicitly guided at the local area to which we apply the poultice.
We aim most poultices at the surface and just underneath.
In contrast, they plan others to penetrate all the more profoundly, for
instance, into profound muscle tissue, ligaments, and ligaments, or even
bone. Sometimes, we call the poultices formulated for drawing actions or
other internal effects as plasters. The mustard plaster, a classic preparation
of mustard seeds applied to the chest to release clogged mucus- is probably
the most general example of this preparation. While preparing a poultice
with a new herb, the herb should initially undergo maceration. Traditionally,
healers bit the plant material, framed it into an appropriate shape, and
applied it to the area requiring treatment. This isn’t appropriate for clinical
practice but is handy to know if you’re in the forest areas and your small
kid falls and scrapes their knee or elbow. Alternatively, slash the herb finely
and then macerate it in a mortar, pestle, or similar instrument. Sometimes
the addition of a little water will assist with creating the paste-like
consistency you need. When you’ve achieved the correct consistency, apply
the poultice to the injury, and daintily spread with a bandage. The bandage
is only to keep the poultice in place and ought to allow for right aeration of
the injury. Suppose you’re using dry herb material, first pound, or pulverize
the herb into a powder. To this powder, add small amounts of water until
you get the best possible pasty consistency. (This procedure will differ with
different herbs and combinations of herbs, so you may have to get the
consistency you want.) Instead of water, you may also add the tincture to
supplement the formulation. Here’s a snappy poultice formula that uses a
tincture to soak the plant material. Granulate 5 g comfrey root to a powder.
To this powder, add adequate quantities of yarrow tincture to make a thick
paste. You can now apply this paste as a poultice to the affected area.
Ensure to change the poultice habitually (at least twice every day) to
guarantee legitimate healing.

Suppositories; A suppository, sometimes called a bolus, is an excellent

technique for acquainting herbs with the anus, rectum, or vagina. There are
many pathogenic effects for which a bolus is helpful, including
hemorrhoids and damp-heat with or without poison. This basic preparation
can be made with very low-tech equipment. The bolus itself is made of
cocoa butter and ground herbs or strong extracts. Liquid extracts are not
appropriate for consideration in suppositories because the finished result
must be firm enough for addition into the anus or vagina. The amount of
cocoa butter will vary so much, but I find about 20 to 25 percent cocoa
butter in the final preparation to be adequate. First, to make a suppository or
bolus, create forms of tin foil by wrapping foil around a sterile bit of glass
or stainless steel about the size of a pen. Carefully slide the shape off,
squeezing it off toward one side. Attempting to protect the uprightness of
the walls of the shape will make the bolus easier to embed later on.
(Premade molds are also available from pharmacy flexibly houses.) Next,
granulate herbs or strong extract to a fine consistency. This consistency is
important, as it will allow for the smooth addition of the bolus.
At that point, delicately heat the cocoa butter until it gets liquid. Using a
twofold kettle will help guarantee that you don’t consume the cocoa butter.
Gradually add the herb blend to the cocoa butter until the blend is about the
consistency of a syrup. (If all else fails, use somewhat more cocoa butter
than herb.) Pour the blend into the prepared forms and allow it to cool and
harden. I like to store suppositories in the refrigerator to diminish the
chance of spoilage or dissolve in blistering weather. To use the suppository
or bolus cut off about 3 cm (approximately 1 inch), expel the tinfoil, and
add the cocoa butter–herb blend. We should only apply the treatment
around evening time since there is a probability of leakage like cocoa butter
liquefies. Advise the patient about this chance and propose the person take
legitimate precautions. For example, a woman may want to wear a
menstrual pad when using a bolus in the vagina; he/she may also use an
elastic baby mat under the sheet or an adult diaper. Such precautions are
rarely necessary; however, as just a small amount of material will leak out.
Infuse Oils ; An injected oil is oil where the herb has undergone maceration
to extract wanted constituents. In this way, an implanted oil isn’t altogether
different from a tea or tincture, then again, actually, it uses oil as a solvent
instead of water or alcohol. We can make mixed oils in two ways. You may
depend either on the sun’s heat to extract the herb or mix the oil using
artificial heat, such as in a Crock-Pot or two-fold kettle. We can make
injected oils from new or dry plants. New plants contain a greater amount
of their essential constituents, which will probably be available in higher
concentrations. However, if you are making an implanted oil from new
plant material, it is ideal for letting the herb dry for a day or somewhere in
the vicinity. This will allow for some water to evaporate from the plant,
decreasing the chance of spoilage. To imbue oil with a herb, pack the herb
in the jar. It is best to fill the jar about ¾ full, leaving sufficient space to
cover the plant with oil to forestall spoilage. If you are using a new herb,
slash it up well and use adequate strain to stuff it into the jar. Next, add
enough oil (olive and sweet almond are my inclinations) to cover the herb
by about 2 to 3 cm (which is approximately 1 inch). If you are using dried
plant material, let it stand for one to two hours after covering it with oil.
The dry herb will absorb the oil, and endeavour to add more oil to cover the
plant material by 2 to 3 cm. Mix the blend well with a clean spoon, being
certain to work out all the air bubbles. This is important with either new or
dry plant material, but especially with new, because any air that remains
will contribute to spoilage of the oil imbuement. After you have expelled all
the air from either the dried or new plant material and (with dry herb), it has
absorbed all the oil it will hold, add enough oil to cover by 2 to 3 cm.
Spread the jar with an earthy colored paper bag and put it in the sun for
about fourteen days. If you’ve used a new herb, open the jar daily when it is
most sizzling and wipe out any moisture, dense on the top of the jar. This
will free your preparation of unwanted water and further decrease its chance
of ruining. At the end of fourteen days, strain the oil, decant it into an
amber container, label the name of the herb, the oil used, and the date
squeezed, and store it under refrigeration. For new plant implantation, strain
out as much oil as conceivable without allowing water to get into the
strained segment. Watch while decanting the oil from the water to make
certain, not empty any water into the decanted oil. The rest of the herb can
be crushed and allowed to trickle for an hour or two preceding decanting.
Keep this last piece of oil separate from the rest and use it first. It will
incline to contain small amounts of water that inevitably remain after the
decanting procedure, and along these lines will ruin all the more easily.
While using artificial heat utilizes the same basic technique, but note that
the amount of time the herb should soak in the oil will be just 24 to 48
hours, a significantly shorter period. Do not overheat the oil, because this
will damage both the oil and the herb and cause it to ruin all the more
easily. The temperature in the range of 37 and 41 degrees C (100 to 105
degrees F) is ideal. Some herbs may profit by an additional solvent to assist
in the infuse procedure. This solvent is generally alcohol, which must be
decanted off at the end, as already portrayed.

Preparation
Crush 1 part (by weight of herb), place it in a container with a top, soggy it
completely with ½ to ¾ part (by volume) of unadulterated ethanol or 90
percent scouring alcohol, and let it set secured for at least two hours. Place
it in a blender, spread it with seven parts (by volume) of vegetable oil
(preferably olive), and mix the hellfire out of it. Mix it until the side of the
top is warm, turn it off, and pour it through a cloth inside a strainer placed
over a bowl. Press out all the oil and throw the remnants.
Salves ; A salve is a semisolid preparation for external application, made
with beeswax, imbued oils, and various fixings as wanted, for example,
cocoa butter or essential oils. Lip balm is a specific salve but is a genuine
example with which everybody is familiar. Making a salve is very easy if
you’ve prepared the infused oils. Just warm the oils (delicately, secure
them) to a point where they will liquefy the beeswax, adding about 40 g of
beeswax to every 200 ml of oil. Test the hardness of the salve by taking a
small spoonful out and allowing it to cool. If you discover the blend isn’t
hard enough to cool, add small beeswax until you achieve the correct
hardness. It is smarter to check the hardness earlier than later, as adding
more oil to the salve to relax it is undesirable. If you don’t have prepared
mixed oils on hand, make the oils using the artificial heat strategy portrayed
earlier. After straining the oil, just add the amount of wax and empty it into
jars. Allow the salve to cool and at that point spread and label. Salves are
very durable and can last for several years if put away in a cool, dark
location.

Powdered Extracts
Sometimes called strong extracts, granulated extracts, or concentrated
extracts, they have used powdered preparations in Western herbal medicine
for at least one hundred and fifty years. However, we can find these
preparations are not in the Western herbalist’s facility, except if the
individual in question recommends present-day phytomedicines in pill
structure. We can dehydrate powdered extracts in liquid extracts, which can
be made with water, alcohol, or any other solvent. However, the use of
some kinds of solvents, such as hexane, may be inappropriate because they
may leave behind buildups during the dehydration procedure. The extracts
we got from China or Taiwan are most, if not all, dehydrated decoctions.
More or less, the procedure for manufacturing these extracts includes
mixing a decoction and then evacuating the water by various dehydration
methods. What’s deserted is the strong bit of the decoction or just the
segments of the herbs dissolvable in water. This then joins the powerful part
with a specific amount of starch to carry it to the ideal ratio, which is 5:1
much of the time. Manufacturers maintain this ratio for all medicinals, so
when practitioners use the preparations in the formula, they will have a
reliable item with which to work. Such a preparation speaks to a decoction
very well, and when joined with warm water; it nearly exactly speaks to a
decoction. Making powdered extracts without the use of some costly
equipment is difficult and tedious. One major issue is that one must handle
any herb containing essential oils in a shut system to forestall the
evaporation of these volatile parts. The decoction must be made along these
lines so that the evaporating essential oils can be captured and reintroduced
to the final product; the final product will be the second rate. The
westerners create few extracts of this sort in the west today. They make
powdered extracts of some top line herbs, for example, black cohosh and
feverfew, but one can purchase them uniquely in large quantities. This
speaks to an enormous gap in the medicinal herb industry in the West, but
this is gradually changing.

Mixture Frying In With Solid And Liquid Adjuvants

Chinese medicine has a long history of preparing medicinals with the
addition of substances, for example, nectar (as in nectar blend fried
licorice), vinegar (as in vinegar blend fried cyperus), wine (as in wine blend
fried dāng guī), and wheat germ (as in wheat-germ blend fried
atractylodes), to name just a few. Many other we also use such preparations,
including steamed rehmannia and steamed ginseng. However, I won’t
spread these latter products here, as their preparation requires some
specialized knowledge and are readily available. Then again, although some
blended fried products referenced earlier are also available, and many
medicinals that may profit by such treatment are not available from
purveyors. These can be prepared relatively easily and will add significant
clinical viability to formulas. I have taken to some of these strategies, partly
because of my culinary background, and because I accept they are essential
in the Chinese tradition and offer us the chance to work somewhat more of
our Qi into the formulas.

Honey Mix-Fried Medicinals

Add a small amount of honey to a wok and heat on medium-high heat until
the honey bubbles. Gradually add the medicinal to be handled until the herb
is coated uniformly with the honey. A ratio of 25 to 40 parts of honey to
100 parts of the herb will work well. Blend the material in the wok until it
gains golden-brown colored shading and is not clingy to the touch.
Note: This material will boil, so don’t stick your finger legitimately into the
wok or attempt to pick a bit of the herb out without utensils. Remove the
material to a clean surface to dry. The honey must get very hot with the end
goal for this to work because you are making candy with the sugars in the
honey. If the honey isn’t sufficiently hot, it will be clingy and hard to deal
with in a jar. It is made accurately; it will cool to a hard, somehow crunchy
consistency. Be careful not to consume the honey because this will turn the
item black and significantly bring down its quality.
Blend searing in with Wine or Vinegar
Although the completed item may be different, the procedure for blend
browning in with wine or vinegar is almost the same as that used for blend
fricasseeing in with honey. The difference is that when handling with
vinegar, use a ratio of 15:100 vinegar to the herb, and with wine, 40:100 or
50:100 wine to the herb. Soak the medicinal in the liquid until it is
absorbed. You will probably have to shake the blend to guarantee an even
distribution of the liquid in the medicinal. Put the plant material into the
wok and heat on medium-high heat until it is dry, while being careful not to
consume the herb. If some material is caramelizing faster than the rest,
which may happen if the liquid was unequally distributed in the dry plant
material, attempt to expel it with utensils. At that point, add all the material
back into the hot wok at the conclusion to guarantee that all it dries the
material. Soggy item will ruin once you place it into a jar.
• 100 Herbal Remedies for Common Ailments with easy-to-adhere to
directions to safely make cures at home
 Chapter Five

HERBAL REMEDIES FOR COMMON AILMENTS

AND INSTRUCTION FOR HOME USE

Herbs That Resolve the Exterior

W eofcanan external
use the herbs that settle the exterior mainly to halt the movement
pathogen through the surface (the skin and muscles) and
ease the side effects that happen because of the reaction of the wèi qì to
that pathogen (for example, fever and chills). There are several ways to
accomplish this, incorporating settling the outside with coolness and
acridity, settling the outside with warmth and acridity, settling the tissue
out-pushing papules, and flowing the outside, and several combinations of
supplementation and outside settling strategies. The primary way to
determine the outside is through diaphoresis (causing sweating), which
incorporates settling with cool/acridity and warmth/acridity, and for settling
the tissue. This technique for treatment may also be a part of
supplementation and outside settling combination approaches. This
category incorporates herbs with a primary capacity of prompting sweating;
some of these that fit this depiction are yarrow, senior flowers, California
spikenard, and wild ginger.
Although diaphoresis is the dominant strategy for settling the outside,
sweating need not always be necessary to determine the pathogen. The
strategy for out-pushing papules (tòu zhĕn) encourages rashes and measles
to come to fulfillment. We call another strategy for settling the outside
without inspiring sweating flowing from the outside (shū biăo). In this
strategy for treatment, causing diaphoresis isn’t necessary, although the
medicinals may or may not cause sweating, because sweating isn’t
imperative for the goal of the outside. Herbs that fit in this category are
American ephedra and thyme. Another herb with this capacity recorded in
the content is echinacea. There are three combination strategies for
supplementing and settling the outside: improving yīn and settling the
outside, boosting qì and settling the outside, and assisting yáng and settling
the outside. These therapeutic techniques use both supplementing
medicinals and medicinals that settle the outside. We can use some herbs to
treat the two branches. Among herbs examined in this content, we may
utilize the two California spikenard and elderberry along these lines.

Cool Acrid Medicinals that Resolve the Exterior

The primary action of herbs in this category is to determine outside heat

patterns. Side effects incorporate sore throat; heat radiation; thirst; slight
aversion to cold; potentially a red tongue with dry, flimsy, white hide; and a
floating, rapid heartbeat. Within this category, you will discover herbs that
have a strong diaphoretic action, for example, yarrow (Achillea
millefolium), and others that have a weaker diaphoretic action example,
thyme (Thymus officinalis). Both herbs are excellent at clearing heat.
Garden sage (Salvia officinalis), while not as strong at clearing heat, is
excellent for complications because of damp pathogens. While it is
diaphoretic when taken hot, it can quit sweating when taken cool. Like
yarrow, senior flower (Sambucus spp.) has strong actions to incite sweating
and clear heat. We can use it when wind and heat invade the lung, both
during initial stages and if the pathogen gets trapped (held up) and causes
wind-heat wounds.

Elder Sambucus nigra,

S. mexicana, S. Canadensis
Caprifoliaceae Sambuci flos et fructus Also called blue or black
elderberry

Flavor and Qì : acrid, bitter, cool

Channels Entered: lung, bladder, liver

Actions: flowers and berries are alterative, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory,

antiviral, diaphoretic

Functions and Indications

 1. Disperses wind-heat; we use the senior flower to treat fever,
cough, and a sore, red, swollen throat. These actions apply to
senior flowers, and, less significantly, the berries. Senior flower
is ahead diaphoretic and is among my favorites for the initial
stages of wind-heat. For this reason, combine equal parts of
senior flower with yarrow and peppermint and make a powerful
mixture. Drink two cups before a hot bath and another privilege
after twisting up in a warm bed and sweat. You will, without a
doubt, feel better in the first part of the day.
2. Clears heat, diminishes toxicity, dries dampness, and vents
rashes; we apply the senior streamer in the treatment of
edematous and red rashes (for example, erysipelas). For this
reason, one can use the concentrated juice of the berries and/or
the flowers. Senior’s acrid nature works to dry dampness and
vent rashes; the unpleasant nature successfully clears heat and
assuages toxicity. This medicinal can also help liver heat that
causes the liver yáng to up-bear with side effects of sore throat,
red eyes, lung abscess, and injuries on the upper-middle and
head.

Precautions; Use elders with caution in weak, cold, and qì-vacuous

patients.

Dosage and Preparation

Flowers, 1–6 g in a mixture of light decoction; berries, 3–30 g in decoction;
either flowers or berries, 2–4 ml tincture. Tincture have to be new. Gather
flowers in mid-to-late summer when they are open. Take care while drying
them, so they don’t turn earthy colored. Exceptional quality dried flowers
ought to be aromatic, have a light cream shading, and contain few stems. To
make syrup, stew the berries, press out the juice, and add sugar. This syrup
has come into much favor as of late, since an investigation distributed in
1995 showed that the berries have antiviral activity against influenza. The
syrup makes an excellent addition to cough syrup, adding both flavor and
medicinal value. Elderberries also have traditionally undergone
transformation into wines and cordials. Dust gathered from senior flowers
has, for quite some time, remembered for corrective preparations. Senior
flower dust is smooth and plush on the skin and adds a calming quality to
skin preparations, including lotions. To gather dust, gather flowers, lay them
on screens to dry, and catch the dust that falls through.

Major Combinations
Combine with echinacea, sarsaparilla, sassafras, and cleavers
for damp-heat rashes.
Combine with mullein and red clover for wind-heat cough.
Combine with Mulberry Leaf and Chrysanthemum decoction
(sāng jú yĭn) for initial stages of wind-heat with strong heat
radiation, sore throat, and cough.
See passage for yarrow for combination to use in an external
attack of wind-heat.

Yarrow

Achillea millefolium Asteraceae

Achilleae Millefolii folium et flos
Other regular names incorporate nosebleed
Flavor and Qì : bitter, acrid, marginally cold.

Channels Entered : lung, bladder, liver.

Actions: anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, diaphoretic, diuretic, hemostatic,
hypotensive, gentle antispasmodic.
Functions and Indications

1. Resolves the outside, courses wind, and discharges heat. We use

yarrow to treat side effects, for example, fever, headache,
cough, and sore throat. It is also used to clear heat, scatter wind,
and outthrust papules. For papules, an external application of
the squashed new herb is excellent. If the new herb isn’t
available, blend dried herb in with water to make a plaster.
 Yarrow’s acrid and cooling nature is excellent for settling the
outside in tài-yīn wind-heat patterns. It strongly pushes wind
and heat from the plump outside and resolves wind papules. At
the point when wind-heat subsides into the resistance and qì
aspect, causing restricting mucus in the lungs, yarrow is an
excellent decision to clear and dissipate heat from the upper
burner. We can also use yarrow for distinct patterns in which
there is mucus heat in the lungs, with thick yellow or green
sputum, cough, thirst, and fever.
2. Cools blood and quits bleeding; Yarrow is useful for bleeding in
the stomach related tract, respiratory tract, or unreasonable
menstrual bleeding because of the wild development of fiery
blood. Yarrow’s severe and cooling nature clears heat and
adequately quits bleeding. Also, since bleeding is a blood stasis,
yarrow’s acrid nature revives the blood and hence bleeding. Use
new plant tincture in small, and visit dosages for acute epistaxis.
For open injuries, apply dried and powdered leaves to stop the
bleeding, ease the heat, and resolve poisons. The powder may
be sprinkled on or packed in, contingent upon the size of the
injury. We also use yarrow for profound seated macular
emissions associated with blood-heat.
3. Drains fire from discouragement and courses liver qì; we use
Yarrow to treat such side effects as dysmenorrhea, hypertension,
irritability, headache, and red eyes. Yarrow’s severe and acrid
nature adequately drains and courses the liver to help mitigate
melancholy, which will subvert the course of fire from
discouragement.
4. Dispels wind-damp-heat and relaxes the ligaments; Used to treat
a hot, painful block of the channels, we broadly apply yarrow in
rheumatic arthritis and viable in combination with different
herbs. Its primary capacity here is to scatter wind and clear heat,
assisting with diminishing worry to the ligaments caused by
these pathogens. This action, by implication, relaxes the
ligaments in cases of hot, painful impediment.
 5. Promotes urination and drains heat; Yarrow is valuable in
treating painful/difficult urination, with or without blood in the
pee. Yarrow works best as a diuretic when taken as a cold
preparation. As cold implantation, yarrow has a stronger,
unpleasant, and cooling nature and, in this manner, is
additionally draining. We articulate this action when we use
yarrow is as a supportive to bit urination.
6. Clears heat and resolve damp; We can apply Yarrow externally
to treat damp-heat rashes and injuries. For this reason, yarrow is
best prepared as a salve or paste. (See the caution below.)

Precautions ; This herb isn’t for those with internal cold, and we must
cautiously use it with qì vacuity. Try not to use during pregnancy.
According to some sources, yarrow is contraindicated for use by those with
allergies to Asteraceae family plants. Note that individuals rarely express an
allergic reaction when using yarrow externally. Yarrow contains the
constituent thujone (a chemical known to cause cancer).
Dosage and Preparation

Use 3–9 g in light decoction or mixture; 1–5 ml tincture. Gather yarrow

when the plant is in full blossom, from early summer to mid-summer. Pack
and dry it, or make it into a new tincture or oil. Exceptional quality dried
herb ought to be aromatic and contain a larger number of flowers than
leaves and no large stems. The flowers should be white, not earthy colored,
and the foliage ought to be a brilliant green. Yarrow is strongly acrid and
unpleasant and therefore has a scattering and down-bearing action. We can
alter these actions by technique for preparation. The hot mixture scattered,
while the decoction or cold preparation is relatively more severe and less
acrid and has an articulated down bearing energy. The new tincture has the
broadest range of actions.
Major Combinations
Combine as a powerful mixture with senior flower and
peppermint for an external attack of wind-heat with fever,
deficient sweating, sore throat, and rapid floating heartbeat. Add
osha for more extreme sore throat, body aches, and headache.
 Add yerba mansa and encelia for more serious body aches and
headaches because of damp insidiousness.
Combine with Honeysuckle and Forsythia Powder (yín qìáo
sàn) to reinforce its action. This formula’s major action is to
determine the outside with acrid and cooling medicinals, diffuse
the lungs, and discharge heat. Yarrow acts harmoniously with
this formula to reinforce its action.
Combine with usnea, echinacea, and dandelion leaf for damp-
heat in the bladder with predominate heat and side effects of
consuming and painful urination, with or without bleeding.
Combine with new tincture of shepherd’s satchel for heat in the
lower burner with bleeding in the pee or stool or over the top
menstrual bleeding. Add uva-ursi for more serious pain related
to strangury conditions.
Combine with Chinese skullcap and pleurisy pull for mucus
heat in the lung.
Combine with yerba mansa and goldenseal or Oregon grape
pulls for external application to damp-heat sores.

Commentary
We frequently call yarrow a warm, stimulating botanical. However, its
indications contradict this designation. One can stimulate a medicinal that is
severe and acrid without being warming. Acridity, if adequate in any plant,
can stimulate, as acridity has a dissipating and moving action. Even an
unpleasant flavor can be stimulated by having a strong draining action.
Because it is both acrid and severe, yarrow is very stimulating without
warming the system; it cools the system. Dissipating medicinals are yáng.
However, upon close examination, the overall image of yarrow is cooling
because of its staggering harshness and its ability to clear heat and even
drain fire.
Researcher got the achillea’s family name from Achilleus, the name of the
famous legend of the Trojan Wars, who gained fame by healing fighters
with herbs. This was the primary wild medicinal herb to which they
presented me, and it holds a special place in my heart. It develops in both
low-elevation valleys and high-elevation meadows. There are many
cultivated varieties, but the white-flowered yarrow of the wild meadows is
the best medicine. It is an exceptionally basic plant and is easy to discover
and cultivate in your garden. They have used this circumboreal plant since
antiquity by cultures around the world. The famous botanist Linnaeus says
that yarrow was used in Sweden to mix lager, which was said to be more
intoxicating than lager prepared with bounces. I have attempted lager
fermented with yarrow and thought that, it was difficult to drink because of
its flavor; I didn’t see any specific intoxicating impact I could attribute to
the yarrow. Yarrow, similar to chamomile, contains chemicals called
azulenes. Azulenes are anti-inflammatory and work both internally and
externally to clear heat. Both yarrow and chamomile contain a specific
azulene called chamazulene. Chamomile is well known for the blue shade
of its essential oil, which originates from chamazulene. Yarrow’s essential
oil is higher than chamomile’s in azulenes, has a dark blue shading, and is
better at decreasing inflammation and clearing heat.
People use the stems of a related yarrow species for tossing the sticks of the
Book of Changes (I Jing). Another related species from Europe and
naturalized in the northern (primarily northeastern) United States and
adjacent Canada, Achillea ptarmica, is utilized for loss of appetite, urinary
tract diseases, rheumatism, diarrhea, and dyspeptic complaints. Several
species are native to Europe and used medicinally by local populations,
including A. moschata, A. ageratum, A. nana, A. nobilis, and A. atrata.
Yarrow is an important herb in the treatment of gynecological conditions
and is a favorite of herbalists who follow the Wise Woman tradition.
Translation of Source Material
In Chinese medicine, they use several species of Achillea. Achillea alpina
and A. wilsoniana (yī zhī hāo) are acrid, unpleasant, somewhat warm, and
toxic, and enter the heart, liver, and lung channels. These herbs revive the
blood, disperse wind, diminish pain, and resolve poison, and used to treat
thumps and falls, wind-damp pain, irregularity glomus, swollen welling-
abscess, and profound, intractable yīn cold disease. They are also good for
external application to injuries to incite fragile living creatures and to treat
hemorrhoids.
Thyme
Thymus vulgaris Lamiaceae Thymi Vulgari folium et flos Other regular
names incorporate shè xiāng căo (Chinese)
Flavor and Qì: acrid, slightly bitter, marginally cold
Channels Entered: lung, stomach, liver Actions: antiseptic, antispasmodic,
antitussive, carminative, expectorant
Functions and Indications
1. Resolves the outside, courses wind, clears heat, and
advantages the throat. We can use thyme to treat wind-heat
invasion with red, swollen, and sore throat, fever, cough, and
headache. This herb is also valuable when the pathogen has
blocked the nose with thick yellow bodily fluid. Because of its
acrid and cooling nature, thyme successfully courses wind and
discharges heat. The nose serves as the opening of the lung
which has a place with the tài-yīn and safeguards aspect, so
wind-heat can easily attack it, causing impediment of the nasal
passageways. Thyme adequately treats resistance aspect wind
warmth and is an important medicinal for this stage of the
disease.
2. Disperses wind and stops cough; Thyme is useful against the
wind that has entered the lungs and impaired the lungs’
plummeting capacity. Although this is a cooling herb, successful
in halting cough and is usable in both heat and cold conditions
when joined with the right herbs. Spasmodic coughs, for
example, challenging cough, react to this herb. Because of its
safety and viability, thyme is an excellent children’s herb,
valuable for treating colic and any of the indications recorded
above. They’ve used the essential oil of thyme has externally for
hot, swollen joints because of wind-heat-damp bì.

Dosage and Preparation

Use 2–6 g in the potent mixture; 1–3 ml tincture, 2–8 drops of the essential
oil in a syrup. Make tincture with new leaves and fluid extract from dried
leaves. Gather leaves in the late morning, before the sun reaches its most
noteworthy point, in spring and early summer, either not long before
flowering or when the flowers have opened. Lay the branches on screens or
newspaper and allow to dry out of direct daylight. Garble (sort and clean)
the leaves later to expel major stem material. Outstanding quality dried herb
ought to contain entire green (dark-green) leaves with scarcely any stems
and ought to be aromatic.
Major Combinations
Combine tincture or strong implantation of thyme with lemon
squeeze and salt as a gargle for sore throat.
Combine with Osha and black sage for sore throat because of
external breeze heat invasion.
Combine with tincture of sundew for spasmodic cough caused
by external breeze heat invasion. This is an excellent
combination for children with croup or challenging cough.
Combine with Mulberry Leaf and Chrysanthemum Decoction
(sāng jú yĭn) for initial stages of wind-heat with a sore throat.
Combine with Stop Coughing Powder (zhĭ sòu sàn) for
coughing with a sore throat because of wind-heat.

Commentary
Thyme is a valuable herb that has since quite a while ago had a place in
medicine. One advantage of using this herb is that the vast majority are
familiar with the taste and think it is agreeable. Thyme originated in the
Mediterranean, cultivated throughout the temperate zones of the present
reality. It is an excellent ground-and wall-spread plant in the garden. We
utilize the leaves in many traditional dishes from around the Mediterranean,
ranging from Spain, France, and Italy to Greece and Turkey. Many varieties
of thyme are available; however, I suggest using T. Vulgaris for medicine.
Thymol, one of the chemical constituents of thyme, is present in the plant’s
essential oil segment. The German pharmacist, Neuman, first extracted this
chemical from the plant in 1725. Thymol is an excellent antiseptic and
antispasmodic, yet used in certain commercial preparations on the market.
For example, Listerine mouthwash and some brands of toothpaste. The
essential oil is regularly good for both internal and external application.
Thymus vulgaris leaves are official in the pharmacopeias of Argentina,
Australia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands,
Poland, and Romania. We can remember the Nordic pharmacopeia in 1963
and the Jugoslav pharmacopeia in 1984. The Swiss pharmacopeia records
the leaves, flowers, and stalk tips. Both the German and Swiss
pharmacopeias list T. Vulgaris and T. zygis as official.
Translation of Source Material
Chinese medicine uses several species from the Thymus family. Thymus
vulgaris (shè xiāng căo) is used to remove wind, settle cough, and is
especially successful in challenging cough, acute bronchitis with laryngitis,
and dissipating hookworms. These indications propose a late presentation
into Chinese medicine. Two different species, recorded as dì jiāo (Thymus
serpyllum and T. mongolicus), are viewed as acrid, warm, and somewhat
toxic. We can use them to warm the center and dissipate cold, oust wind,
and decrease pain. We also use them to down bear counterflow qì in the
treatment of heaving, and for abdominal pain, diminished food intake with
constipation, wind-cold cough, swollen throat, toothache, and irritation of
the skin.
Sage-Salvia officinalis Lamiaceae Salviae Officinali herba, also known
as garden sage.
Flavor and Qì : acrid, slightly bitter, marginally cool
Channels Entered : lung, liver, large digestive tract.
Actions: antiseptic, astringent, diaphoretic
Functions and Indications
1. Clears heat and scatters wind ; we use Sage to treat sore
throat and pain after speaking. Because it has a recognizable
taste, sage is regularly agreeable to patients as a tea rinse. The
medicinal acrid and bitter nature scatters wind and clears heat.
We also use sage traditionally for different sore throat, which
may incorporate breeze dryness attacking the lung or other lung
dryness patterns and lung yīn vacuity patterns. Its use in these
patterns is explained by its cooling and wind-scattering action
 and its ability to astringe. The latter capacity is specific when
there is a need to hold in the moisture that, if lost, would
additionally harm the system.
2. Eliminates dampness and quits sweating . Sage is
exceptionally viable for quit ping sweating due either to vacuity
or repletion patterns, including night sweats, spontaneous
sweating, and sweating because of damp-heat. For this reason,
the tea ought to be drunk cool, not hot. Because of its ability to
treat damp-heat, sage is useful for halting sweating because of
damp-heat patterns. Sweating because of damp-heat can be
either be an internal or external condition. Sage treats both well,
although it is particularly useful for treating externally
contracted damp-heat leading to sweating because of its acrid
nature.
3. Dries dampness and clears heat; Sage enables treat to damp-
heat in the lower burner with tingling in the genital area along
with malodorous emissions, flatulence, and discharges. Damp-
heat inclines to settle in the lower burner, which is called damp-
heat pouring downward. This is an internal condition arising
from various etiologies that lead to damp-heat. Sage dries
dampness and cools heat, accordingly treating this condition.
Sage is also used to evaporate milk when moms want to quit
breastfeeding.

Precaution; Sage is not suitable for use by nursing moms.

Dosage and Preparation
Use 3–6 g in light decoction or mixture; 2–5 ml tincture. New plant
material can serve as the raw material for Sage tincture. Gather sage in the
late spring and early summer, before the flowers mature. Pack and dry the
herb, and expel the leaves later for storage. Outstanding quality dried herb
ought to be aromatic, have a gray-green shading, and contain no stems.
Major Combinations
Combine with yerba mansa and goldenseal for damp-heat in the
lower burner with a copying sensation or tingling in the genitals,
 vaginal discharge, hemorrhoids, dysenteric disorders; and
scanty, copying, stinking pee.
Combine with myrrh as a gargle for sore and ulcerated throat.
Combine with Jade Windscreen Powder (yù píng fēng săn) for
sweating because of qì vacuity with visit external invasions. For
this, take 20–60 drops of the new plant tincture along with Jade
Windscreen Powder (yù píng fēng săn). This will help stop the
sweating all the more rapidly. Suspend the sage once the
sweating has halted.

Commentary
The Latin name “Salvia” originates from salvus , meaning “healthy,”
which is thusly gotten from the Latin action word salvere, meaning “to
heal.” Experts have used many plants in the family Salvia for medicine.
They use the vast majority of them for their aromatic, aboveground parts,
rather than their foundations. A notable special case is the famous red sage
root used in Chinese medicine. While they may use some Salvia plants in
formulas as a substitute for the sage discussed in this monograph, they are
not necessarily analogous. The Salvia species talked about in the following
passage are two of the many native sages from the western United States. I
have included them here because I use them in significant amounts in
clinical practice but chose not to incorporate them as separate monographs.
The comparisons made beneath are with garden sage (Salvia officinalis).
White sage (Salvia apiana) is stronger at clearing dampness and they utilize
heat and for damp-heat in the lower burner with conceivable Candida
disease. They also use white sage for damp-heat patterns associated with
prostatitis; for this, merge it with annoy root and saw palmetto. It is also
better, both internally and externally, for fungal diseases. Finally, white sage
has a long history of use as a ceremonial plant by the native people groups
of the western United States, particularly in the southern California locale,
where the plant is native. The leaves are gathered while new, tied in small
packages, and dried. The smoke created when these groups are scorched
renowned as purifying and is consequently used to “clear the air” before a
ritual or special occasion. This is a great way to start and end your day in
the facility. It can even be utilized between patients after an especially
challenged individual has consumed the room.
Black sage (Salvia mellifera) is cool and more wind-scattering; it is better
for wind-heat with a sore throat but less viable for damp-heat. Black sage is
also use for wind-heat bì syndrome with sore and inflamed joints. For this,
use the stem along with the leaf.
They recorded salvia officinalis in The United States Pharmacopeia, 1842–
1916, and in The National Formulary (U.S.), 1936–1950. It is official in the
British Herbal Pharmacopeia (1996), the British Pharmacopoeia (2002),
Martindale: The Extra Pharmacopeia (33rd ed.), and the European
Pharmacopeia (2004). It is endorsed by the German Commission E and the
European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy (1999) and is recorded in
the PDR for Herbal Medicines (second ed.).

Warm Acrid Medicinals that Resolve the Exterior

Herbs’ primary action in this category is settling outside cold patterns with
manifestations that incorporate chills and aversion to cold with gentle heat
radiation, headache, generalized pain, absence of sweating, nasal blockage,
absence of thirst, tongue with a reflexive hide, and floating, tight heartbeat.
Inside this category, you will discover two important herbs in the North
American materia medica, California spikenard (Aralia California) and
Osha (Ligusticum grayi). While nor is used widely outside North America,
they originate from critical genera, Aralia and Ligusticum.
All the plants talked about here are relatives of plants used in Chinese
medicine. Wild ginger (Asarum caudatum and others) is firmly related to
the Chinese wild ginger (xì xīn). California spikenard is in the ginseng
family (Araliaceae) and along these lines related to several well-known
plants in the Chinese materia medica, including ginseng (rén shēn),
American ginseng (xī yáng shēn), notoginseng (sān qī), tetrapanax (tōng
căo), and the less-known but more firmly related thorny aralia (hóng sŏng
mù). Osha (Ligusticum spp.) is related to the famous Ligusticum
chuanxiong (chuān xiōng) and to a herb from the same category,
Ligusticum sinensis (găo běn). The fourth medicinal in this category is
American (Ephedra viridis and others), which, although firmly related to
Chinese ephedra (má huáng) botanically, differs significantly from it
medicinally.
Osha
Ligusticum grayi, L. porteri Apiaceae Ligustici Grayi seu Porteri radix Also
called Gray’s Osha, oshalla (L. grayi)
Flavor and Qì : acrid, unpleasant, aromatic, warm
Channels Entered: lung, bladder, stomach, liver
Actions: antibacterial, antiviral, anodyne, diaphoretic, expectorant
Functions and Indications.
1. Expels wind, settle the outside, and stops pain . Osha
adequately treats wind-heat or wind-cold, with side effects such
as sore throat, fever, nasal clog, neck pain, cough, headache, and
body aches. Osha’s strong acridity and affinity for the lung and
its particular channel make it suitable for all attacks from the
outside, affecting the upper burner. I use “upper burner” here as
a general term, not specific to the triple burner of Warm Disease
Theory. I make this differentiation because we can use osha for
either wind-cold or wind-heat. Osha’s acrid and aromatic nature
strongly dissipates and outthrusts pathogens. When treating
wind-cold, its warm and acrid nature scatters cold and, joined
with its aromatic nature, outthrusts pathogens. In wind-heat
conditions, its acrid and aromatic nature scatters and outthrusts
warm pathogens, while its unpleasant and acrid nature drains
heat and mitigates pain. Although osha is warm, it very well
may be viable in wind-heat conditions, especially when joined
with the appropriate medicinals.
2. Clears heat and drains fire, mostly from the upper burner. A
sore throat caused by heat damages the blood and channels
along these lines causing stasis and stagnation. Osha’s acrid and
aromatic nature animates the blood, out-pushes pathogenic heat,
and assists in the circulation of qì to soothe the pain. When
joined with its severe nature, its acrid and aromatic nature clears
heat and drains the consuming fire. Osha has an affinity for the
respiratory tract and is used for indications, such as fever and
cough. It is critical for contamination in the respiratory tract
with yellow sputum, sore throat, and fever, and can also be
utilized for diseases affecting the nasal passage-ways. Osha
 advances expectoration of thick, yellow, sputum that is difficult
to remove. To ease a sensitive throat, bite and suck a bit of the
root. It has an anodyne quality that soothes the pain, while its
antibacterial and antiviral properties help eliminate the
pathogen.
3. Dispels wind and dampness; Osha is used for various sorts of
wind-damp pain such as headaches, backache, and joint pain.
Wind and dampness stopped in the channels cause the qì and
blood to stagnate along these lines, causing pain. Osha’s acrid
and unpleasant nature is awesome for scattering wind and re-
unraveling dampness. If there are articulated manifestations of
cold, cold pathogens causing blood stasis or extreme pain, use
the wine blend fried rendition of Osha.

The wine mix fried rendition of the herb will invigorate the blood and qì for
indications of pain caused by blood and qì stagnation. Preparing the cut
roots in this manner increases the herb’s ability to animate the blood and re-
understand qì stagnation. Pain that has a sharp and stabbing quality, for
example, certain kinds of headaches, angina, trauma, and arthritic pain,
reacts well to the herb prepared in this manner. It is also useful for
menstrual pain and gynecological disorders, including amenorrhea,
dysmenorrhea, difficult labor, and lochioschesis.
Dosage and Preparation
Use 1–5 ml of new plant tincture; 3–12 g in decoction. The fresh tincture is
ideal, but the decoction is also successful. Gather the roots in autumn or
spring when the plant’s aerial bits have kicked the bucket back for the
winter. Cut and dry the roots for storage, or dry them entirely. The roots can
also be cut to make new plant tinctures. Great quality dried Osha root is
aromatic and firm, not concise. Osha is frequently sold all in all root. Entire
or cut, it ought to be free or nearly so if the coarse hairs that develop near
the root crown.
Precaution; Osha ought to be used with caution during pregnancy. It
probably ought to be avoided totally in the first trimester, and by ladies who
have a past filled with miscarriage or who have the potential to miscarriage
because of weakness.
Major Combinations
Combine with thyme and black sage for an external attack of
wind-heat, causing sore, painful throat that is more terrible with
swallowing or talking.
Combine with pleurisy pull for lung heat with thick, yellow
sputum. Add marshmallow for sputum that is more difficult to
expectorate. Add to Honeysuckle, Forsythia, and Puffball
Powder (yín qìáo mă bó săn) for serious sore throat.

California Spikenard Aralia California Araliaceae Araliae Californicae

rhizoma et radix Also called aralia, elk clover.
Flavor and Qì: acrid, bitter, slightly sweet, warm
Channels Entered: lung, bladder, kidney, stomach.
Actions: expectorant, diaphoretic, stimulant, supplementing
Functions and Indications
1. Releases the external, expels wind, and scatters cold. We can
apply California spikenard in the treatment of wind-cold with
symptoms of headache, neck and shoulder pressure, and chills.
California spikenard is powerful for breaking a fever when there
is no sweating. Its strongly acrid nature settles the outside and
ousts wind. The acridity joined with its warm nature makes
California spikenard an outstanding medicinal for dispersing
wind-cold invasion. It is also valuable in wind-cold-damp bì
syndrome.
2. Scatters cold, circulates lung qì, transforms mucus, and stops
cough. We can use California spikenard to treat a cough with
bounteous white or clear sputum; for this capacity, it is
exceptional. It assists with expectoration, transforms mucus, and
advantages the lung qì. Its warm and acrid nature scatters cold
from the lung and transforms mucus. Its warm, bitter, and
somewhat sweet nature also assists lung qì circulation. The
bitterness and acridity help to down bear and circulate lung qì,
therefore halting cough.
 3. Supplements lung and spleen qì. This herb is active in the
treatment of qì vacuity symptoms, such as lethargy, windedness,
cough with watery sputum, and a propensity to catch colds. For
these indications, I suggest a honey blend fried rendition of
California spikenard. Cooking the medicinal in honey helps
mediate the acridity and fortify its supplementing action. You
can use the berries and the root and rhizome for this reason
(although the berries need not to blend fried in honey).

Precaution; Use California spikenard with caution for individuals with

high fever and sweating. Individuals with yīn vacuity with heat signs must
not use it.
Dosage and Preparation
Use 3–9 g in decoction; 2–4 ml tincture; 1–3 g powdered extract. We can
use the same dosages for preparations made with the berries. Gather the
roots and rhizomes in late autumn and winter, after the aerial parts have
passed on back. Cut them for drying to make new plant tincture.
Outstanding quality dried root is large and light, with streaks of rust-shaded
tar through an, in any case, cream-hued root. It ought to be aromatic.
Major Combinations
Combine with Osha and elecampane for wind-cold invasion
with symptoms of cough accompanied by extensive white or
clear sputum, chills, heat emanation, sore neck, and body aches.
Combine the honey blend fried form in with Jade Windscreen
Powder (yù píng fēng săn) for articulated indications of cold
and qì vacuity in those inclining toward mucus, when wind-cold
has disturbed the diffusion of the lung qì leading to cough, nasal
clog, and runny nose.

Wild Ginger Asarum caudatum, A. canadense, and other

Aristolochiaceae Asari rhizoma et radix
Flavor and Qì: acrid, bitter, aromatic, hot.
Channels Entered: lung, kidney.
Actions: anodyne, carminative, diaphoretic, expectorant, stimulant.
Function and Indications
1. Releases the external, removes wind, and scatters cold. Wild
ginger is excellent when used at the beginning of the regular
cold with symptoms of headache, neck and shoulder strain, and
chills. It is especially useful for sinus clog because of a cold or
allergy and when a cold has affected the conjunctiva, causing
inflammation with constant lachrymation. The nature of this
medicinal is up bearing, and its acridity opens and liberates.
This makes wild ginger particularly useful for the head and face
diseases, especially for bound nasal blockage.
2. Scatters cold, circulates lung qì, transforms mucus, and stops
cough. We use wild ginger when cold attack the lungs, causing
pain, or for eternal cough caused by cold. Wild ginger’s hot and
aromatic attributes make it an excellent penetrating and out-
thrusting medicinal for cold wrongs. This medicinal is
especially useful when interminable cough leads to lung qì
vacuity and, therefore, spleen qì vacuity, causing diarrhea and
nausea. It is also good for the external attack of wind-cold-damp
in the small digestive tract with painful diarrhea and cold
detestable attacking the stomach with the abrupt beginning of
epigastric pain, aggravation of pain by cold and alleviation by
warmth, aversion to cold, and no apparent thirst.
3. Scatters cold, scatters damp, and represses pain in the channels
and uterus. We can successfully use the wild ginger in
dysmenorrhea cases with cold, chopping pain that radiates down
the inward thigh (i.e., the liver channel) and into the lower back
(i.e., the kidney channel). Such a patient may also give anxiety
and irritability. Wild ginger can also help with amenorrhea
because of cold and damp in the uterus. The hot, aromatic, and
penetrating nature of this medicinal makes it helpful in this
situation, as it strongly enters the channels to chase the
unconscious. Wild ginger is excellent for most pain caused by
cold or heat, regardless of the location. I have used it for
toothache, trigeminal neuragia, and joint pain in various places.
I have also remembered it for external preparations by
incorporating the tincture into a paste for twice daily
 application. Wild ginger’s ability to penetrate, open, and free
stagnation allows for its use in cold and heat conditions when
treating pain. However, it is important to take its hotness into
account and formulate when using it to treat conditions in which
heat is available.

Precaution; Use with caution with extraordinary fever and over the top
sweating. Wild ginger isn’t appropriate for yīn vacuity with heat signs.
Dosage and Preparation
Use 2–6 g in light decoction or potent mixture; 0.5–3 ml tincture. Note that
the essential oils in wild ginger are a large part of its activity; it does not
have to decoct for significant periods. Further, an imbuement of the herb
will be better for mitigating the outside and scattering wind. Gather the
roots and rhizomes in the autumn or spring, separate them from the leaves,
and dry out of direct daylight. Exceptional quality dried material is light
green to whitish in shading, lacks leaf material, and has scarcely any small
rootlets. It ought to be aromatic and have a bitter, acrid flavor.
Major Combinations
Combine with California spikenard for cold in the lungs with
cough and bounteous clear or white sputum.
Combine with valerian, thorny ash, and cramp bark for
dysmenorrhea caused by the attack of cold and damp with
sharp, dull pain previously or during menstruation.
Combine with Osha and elecampane for wind-cold sinus clog
with headache and sinus pain.

Mormon Tea Ephedra viridis, E. nevadensis, E. California, and others

Ephedraceae Ephedra herba
Flavor and Qì : acrid, bitter, warm
Channels Entered: lung, bladder.
Actions : astringent, diaphoretic, diuretic
Functions and Indications
 1. Resolves the outside and quits wheezing; we use Ephedra to
treat wind-cold with symptoms of sneezing, runny nose with
clear, plentiful bodily fluid, stodgy head, and sniffling.
Ephedra’s acrid nature settles the outside, while its bitter nature
down bears lung qì to check to wheeze. While this is certifiably
not a strong action, North American ephedra species are a
reasonable substitute when má huáng is inappropriate because
of hypertension or different issues.
2. Promotes urination. Ephedra helps treat edema of any etiology,
but particularly edema associated with external pathogens. We
also use it to spill urinary square or hindered urination because
of kidney vacuity, with symptoms such as urinary recurrence,
earnestness, reduced power of urinary stream, and post-void
spilling. Ephedra’s bitter and astringent nature assists with
draining and restraint, regulating the progression of pee, which
makes this herb especially useful for various urinary complaints.
Besides, its acrid, outside settling nature makes this herb
particularly useful for external damp conditions.

Precaution; Because of its diuretic and scattering action, use ephedra

should with caution in yīn vacuity patterns.
Dosage and Preparation

Use 3–9g in decoction or strong imbuement; 2–4ml tincture. Note that

because of the essential oils’ ephedra contains, the imbuement is a superior
diaphoretic and will all the more strongly release the outside. A decoction
of the herb is a stronger diuretic. Gather ephedra stems at any season, aside
from when the plant is flowering or in a seed. Spread them to dry for
storage or handling; alternatively, cut and prepare as a new plant tincture.
Exceptional quality dried herb is green to green-gray, entire (not destroyed),
and has a slight aroma.
Major Combinations

Combine with yarrow and California spikenard for the invasion

of wind-cold with cough and wheezing.
 Combine with saw palmetto and aconite for repressed urination
because of kidney yáng vacuity.
Combine with saw palmetto, vex root, and ginseng for spilling
urinary square because of kidney qì deficiency.
Combine with black sage and akebea for externally contracted
breeze damp pathogens.

Formula That Resolves the Exterior

Yarrow, Elder, and Mint Combination Source: Unknown traditional
diaphoretic tea.

Yarrow 6g

Elder flower 6 g

Mint 6g

Preparation: Prepare as a mixture by pouring 1000 ml bubbling water over

the herb and allow it to steep and secure for 15 to 20 minutes. This mixture
ought to be drunk while hot. For best outcomes, drink some tea, take a hot
shower or bath, at that point, drink some tea, wrap up in bed, and sweat it
out.

Actions: Disperses wind-heat from the outside, clear heat, and calms
toxicity.
 Chapter Six

HERBS THAT CLEAR HEAT

C learing heat is a generalized term used to depict the action of medicinals,

cool to cold and accordingly treat repletion-heat patterns. In a Chinese
materia medica, experts frequently break this large category of
medicinals into subcategories, which just speak to more specific
delineations for individual medicinals. To maintain the tradition, I have
organized this large category in the same manner. Note that many of the
medicinals in this group apply across several subcategories. The
subcategories are unique to help organize and identify the key elements of
the medicinals. Clearing heat is an important category in any materia
medica. Clearing heat date back to the Elementary Questions (sù wèn),
where it says, “Heat is treated with cold.” Therefore, the qì of the
medicinals in this category is cool to cold, and their flavor is nearly always
bitter because of the propensity for bitter about draining. From the Western
point of view, heat—as characterized by Chinese medicine —is present in
most, if not all, inflammatory conditions. Aside from main subcategories of
medicinals sketched out here, they associate some different combinations of
actions with clearing heat. These are important to recollect because the
herbs recorded in the subcategories won’t always be of less interest if used
alone. One can accomplish the ideal capacities by joining medicinals,
although some individual herbs address at least one of them. These other
major joined actions include:
Clearing heat and dis-inhibiting dampness
Clearing heat and dissipating dampness
Clearing heat and dousing twist (also called draining fire and
stifling breeze)
Clearing heat and liberating strangury
Clearing heat and opening the orifices
 Clearing heat and settling summer heat (frequently a
subcategory in material medica, but not in this content)
Clearing heat and settling the outside.
Clearing heat and stanching bleeding
Clearing heat and transforming dampness
Clearing heat and transforming mucus

Herbs that Drain Fire; We characterize the subcategory of clearing heat

by the symptomatology that recognizes fire from heat. Fire is, essentially,
an exaggerated heat type. When the fire is a pathogenic factor, the upper bit
of the body is nearly always affected, because of the rising nature of fire.
Because fire is an exaggerated heat type, symptoms are frequently severe.
The condition requires swift treatment to determine the pathogenesis, or
possibly the most extreme symptoms, such as high fever, severe headache,
and excessive consumption of fluids. Symptoms, for example, high fever
and redness in the head (counting the eyes, face, and tongue), are normal
because of the rising nature of fire. Dryness (for example, dry eyes, skin,
mouth, or tongue) is the accomplice of these symptoms.

However, fire can also affect the center or lower parts of the body.
Symptoms, such as scant, rosy pee; discharge and blood in the stool; acute
diarrhea; and thick, yellow mucus are all potential indications of fire.
Besides, fire can cause issues with the blood. Fire can burn the vessels and
power the blood from its course, causing spontaneous bleeding and
maculopapular emissions. The subcategory of herbs that drain fire is
frequently homogenized in present-day textbooks with another
subcategory called “clear heat and resolve poisons,” which I’ve treated
as a separate category here. Two medicinals that drain fire are;

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) and

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria).

Feverfew is excellent for down bearing fire and clearing heat. In this way, it
is compelling for symptoms in the upper part of the body. This is also valid
for meadowsweet, but less significant. Meadowsweet is specifically for the
stomach and more systemic issues arising from a fire in the center and
lower burners. Also, meadowsweet restrains yīn, making it valuable for
conditions in which fluids are damaged and also for vacuity fire. Its
combination of flavors and qì make meadowsweet an important addition to
the materia medica.

Feverfew Tanacetum parthenium; Asteraceae Tanacetum Parthenii herba

seu flos
Flavor and Qì: bitter, marginally acrid, cold

Channels Entered: liver, stomach.

Actions: analgesic, anthelmintic, antirheumatic, febrifuge, stomachic
Functions and Indications

1. Clears the liver and drains fire . Feverfew viably treats liver-
fire flaming upward, with symptoms like vasodilate migraine
headache, red eyes, red face, red ears, agitation, and vexation.
This herb is also helpful for liver-fire invading the lung, with
symptoms of cough, difficult breathing, burning pain in the
chest and flanks, and impatience. Feverfew’s bitter and cold
nature strongly clears heat, down bears liver-fire, and assists
yáng in returning to its source.
2. Clears heat, diffuses hindrance, a nd diminishes pain. We can
use this herb to treat heat hindrance with symptoms of hot, red,
swollen, painful joints with or without heat emanation or thirst.
Feverfew’s bitter, draining, and marginally acrid nature makes it
helpful in treating hot, painful obstacles. Its bitter and cold
nature viably drains and cools heat, while its somewhat acrid
nature assists with scattering stagnation and stasis because of
heat damaging the qì dynamic and blood.
3. Clears the stomach and drains fire. We use feverfew to treat
stomach fire with symptoms of toothache, bleeding gums,
epigastric pain, bitter taste in the mouth, also a red tongue with
a yellow coat. Feverfew’s bitter and cold nature is suitable for
 straightforwardly cooling a hot stomach and draining fire to
determine symptoms associated with stomach fire.

Precaution; Apply this herb for patterns of repletion. Some sensitive

individuals may encounter a mellow to moderate rash in the mouth.
Because of its bitter cold, and down bearing action, feverfew should be
used with caution during pregnancy.

Dosage and Preparation

Use 1–7 g in light decoction or imbuement; 1–3 ml tincture. The new plant
tincture is better than the dry plant tincture. Exceptional quality dried herb
contains approximately equal parts of flowers and leaves with scarcely any
stems. The leaves ought to be green and the flowers white and yellow
without sauteing. There ought to be at least free plate flowers floating
around in the bag, which may show that they picked the flowers past their
peak or over dried.

Major Combinations
Combine with gentian for liver-fire flaming upward with the
painful red face, red eyes, headache, and other heat signs in the
chest area because of the ascending of liver-fire. This
combination is also powerful for headaches because of gall-
bladder heat.
Combine with echinacea and cayenne for the heat entering the
blood-development with symptoms of maculopapular
emissions. In this combination, the bitter, cold, and acrid
scattering and out-thrusting actions of echinacea and feverfew
treat the symptomatology while moving the pathogenic warmth
out of the blood-development and into the qì aspect. The acrid
and warming nature of cayenne assists with scattering and out-
pushing the emissions, settling the major complaint.

Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria Rosaceae Filipendulae Ulmarii herba

seu flos Also known as dropwort
Flavor and Qì: bitter, bland, astringent, and somewhat cold
Channels Entered: stomach, kidney, liver.
Actions: anodyne, antacid, anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic, anti-
ulcerogenic, astringent, diuretic, gentle urinary antiseptic.
Functions and Indications
1. Clears heat and drains fire. We use meadowsweet to treat
stomach heat due to repletion or vacuity, with symptoms such as
stomach channel pain, better appetite, bleeding gums, and bad
breath. We also use meadowsweet for heat-type diarrhea with
heat invading the stomach and digestion tracts causing
abdominal pain, consuming in the anus, thirst with a craving for
cold beverages, and voiding of blood-touched pee. This herb is
useful for childhood diarrhea as it is safe, relatively delicate,
and speedy acting. However, don’t muddle this current herb’s
delicacy with weakness or inadequacy. Meadowsweet’s bitter
and cold nature strongly clears heat and cools the stomach and
digestive organs. Heat singes the tissue, vessels, and channels,
causing damage, blood stasis (because of blood leaving the
vessels), and qì stagnation. Meadowsweet’s bitter and cold
nature, joined with its somewhat astringent nature, assists with
taking the tissue back to a healthy state, making this medicinal
particularly interesting in this disorder.
2. Clears vacuity heat and restrains yīn’ Meadowsweet is useful
in treating yīn vacuity heat with symptoms, for example,
nocturnal discharges, headache, thirst, dull discontinuous pain
in the joints or muscles, and lower back pain. Meadowsweet is
astringent and restrains yīn. It is also bitter and cold, draining,
and cooling heat. The combination of restraining and draining
allows for this medicinal tfor use in yīn vacuity with great
viability.
3. Clear heats and drains damp; we use meadowsweet to treat
bladder damp-heat with symptoms such as visit, painful, and
small avoiding of pee. Meadowsweet is bitter and cold, and in
this way, clears heat. Although it is astringent, restraining yīn, it
also drains dampness with blandness. This important
 combination of astringency and blandness allows draining with-
out damaging yīn.

Precautions; individuals who have salicylate sensitivities, including

allergies to aspirin, must use Meadowsweet with caution.

Dosage and Preparation

Use 3–9g in decoction; 2–4 ml tincture. Outstanding quality dried herb is
green with a blend of small amounts of white flowers and 20 to 30 percent
stem material.
Major Combinations
 Chapter Seven

HERBS THAT COOL THE BLOOD

H eat entering the blood or heat entering the blood aspect depicts a
profound penetration of heat into the body. We associate this pattern of
disease with poisons and disservice to yīn fluids. When heat enters the
blood, it can damage the blood and vessels, leading to a frantic
development of blood. It can also enter the pericardium and affect the heart,
leading to symptoms, for example, agitation, blurred spirit, and mania. A
rapid or racing beat and a ruby tongue are hallmark indications of this
syndrome. Also, blood-heat associates with skin diseases. Two important
medicinals from this subcategory are burdock (Arctium lappa) and
California figwort (Scrophularia California). Echinacea, although
categorized as herbs for clearing heat and settling poisons, is another
valuable herb to recall while treating this pathological pattern. Burdock
capacities in several ways to treat blood-heat. It is an excellent medicinal
for clearing heat and serves to outthrust, delicately sustain yīn, and resolve
qì stagnation caused by a burning fire. California figwort, much like
Chinese figwort, clears heat from the blood while advancing yīn. California
figwort can scatter stagnation and accumulation, making it an exceptionally
versatile medicinal.
California Figwor t Scrophularia californica, S. lanceolata
Scrophulariaceae Scrophulariae Californicae herba seu radix et rhizome
Flavor and Qì: bitter, marginally sweet, and cold.

Channels Entered: kidney, lung, stomach, triple burner, bladder.

Actions: alterative, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and diuretic.

Functions and Indications

1. Clears blood-heat and enhances yīn for the vacuity of right
with stopped shades of malice. Fig. Wort root is good for
 application in the treatment of symptoms such as night sweats,
sore throat, dry irritation of any mucosa, purple maculopapular
ejections, a stripped ruby tongue, and a rapid, fine heartbeat.
When heat lodges into the developed blood aspect, it drains
liver and kidney yīn, while heat entering the blood mixes and
harms the blood and its vessels. Figwort’s bitter and cold nature
adequately clears heat from both this development and blood
aspects, while its sweet and cold nature improves and incites yīn
to bolster the privilege
2. Clears heat and drains damp; Figwort herb or both herb and
root are fit to treat various damp-heat patterns, such as damp-
heat steaming upward, damp-heat pouring downward, and
damp-heat mounting, with symptoms including joint pain,
lymph clog, skin diseases, hemorrhoids, and strangury. Figwort
is a viable medicinal for damp-heat conditions, as it successfully
the two drains damp and clears heat. For these patterns, the
herbaceous segment of the plant is regularly good for use. It is
bitter, bland, and cold and drains heat through the pee.
3. Disperses stagnation and accumulation and clears heat
poison. Figwort is useful for mammary welling-abscess with
redness and swelling of the breast, especially around the areola.
A poultice or mixed oil made from the herbaceous bit of the
plant is an important solution for treating this condition, most
usually caused by a blocked milk conduit in a nursing mother.
Incorporate Figwort as part of a formula to take internally in
such cases. One formula I have used multiple times with
outstanding success is Trichosanthus Powder (guā lóu săn) from
Fù Qīng-zhŭ’s Gynecology. Its bitter and cold nature adequately
drains and clears heat while scattering stagnation and
accumulation, in this manner, easing pain and inconvenience.
Figwort is also used to treat wind-fire scrophula.

Precaution; Avoid the use of figwort with tachycardia. Use with caution
during pregnancy.
Dosage and Preparation
Use 6–15 g in decoction; 2–6 ml tincture; 1–3 g powdered extract. Wound
new leaves and apply to hot glandular swellings. You can prepare an oil
imbuement for the same reason. This oil is an important fixing in salve
formulas for various heat conditions throughout the body. Exceptional
quality dried herb is dark green with areas of somewhat rosy to purple
stems. It ought to have the characteristic—slightly offensive—"figwort
smell." The herb ought to have no flowers or seedpods. The dried root has a
grayish shading with indications of blackening because of oxidation; it
ought to have few small rootlets and be pliable to hard on the surface.

Major Combinations
Combine with red root and cleavers for damp-heat mounting
with symptoms of hemorrhoids, swelling and pain of the
scrotum. We can also use this combination for indications of
lymph blockage throughout the body. For lymph blockage in the
lower burner, add ocotillo.
Combine with sarsaparilla and coix for joint pain associated
with damp-heat.
Combine with goldenseal, Chinese skullcap, and coix for
painful and grisly urination.
Combine with a yellow dock for difficult defecation associated
with damp-heat. Add buckthorn bark for constipation.

Burdock Arctium Arctii Lappae radix the other names incorporate lappa;
gobo (Japanese for the root); niú bang gēn (Chinese for the root)

Flavor and Qì: bitter, marginally acrid, and cool.

Channels Entered: liver, kidney, bladder, stomach Actions: alterative,

antirheumatic, diaphoretic, diuretic, nutritive.
Functions and Indications

1. Clears heat, cools the blood , and scatters wind. Burdock is

powerful to treat heat in the blood, causing skin diseases and
rashes, such as psoriasis, eczema, and constant cutaneous
 emissions. Burdock is an important medicinal to treat heat in the
blood, causing skin diseases and rashes such as psoriasis,
eczema, and chronic cutaneous eruptions. Burdock is a very
important medicinal to treat heat-mediated skin diseases.
Because the herb has a gentle action of releasing the exterior, it
assists the body in expressing skin conditions, helping resolve
them more quickly. When a warm pathogen enters the body and
festers in the lung, it may progress to the construction-blood
aspect, and rashes may occur. Bur- dock has an affinity for the
liver and blood and mild out-thrusting action. It directly cools
the construction-blood and gently outthrusts the pathogen.
2. Quells fire and clears the liver. Burdock treats excessive heat
in the liver caused by liver disease, including jaundice and
hepatitis. Because of burdock’s acridity, it gently courses the
liver while directly clearing heat, especially heat because of
depression and qì stagnation. This action is also useful when
affect disease leads to stagnation of qì and stasis of blood,
causing diseases such as mastitis.
3. Clears heat and transforms damp. Burdock good to treat
damp-heat manifesting as damp-heat skin conditions, swollen
lymph nodes, lymphedema, strangury, and gout. Burdock’s
bitter and cool nature clears heat and drains it through the urine.
It is very effective at draining heat and dampness and can fit to
change many traditional Chinese formulas.
4. Clears yīn vacuity fire. Burdock is used to treat symptoms
associated with yīn vacuity fire, including dry stools, scanty
dark urine, blood in the urine, mental restlessness, dry throat at
night, and a red, peeled tongue. As noted above, burdock enters
the construction aspect (i.e., the liver and kidney). Therefore,
burdock has a direct action on the liver and kidney and can cool
these organs. Although viewed as being strong in action, we
also consider burdock food with some nutritive properties. This
combination of properties makes it an important medicinal for
clearing heat arising from vacuity. However, owing to its overall
 drying nature, one must use it in a formula or further decline in
yīn.

Precautions; Burdock is very safe. However, owing to its gentle out-

thrusting nature, it may, in the short-term, increase the size or number of
rashes. Don’t see it as a negative sign, as it only means that the pathogen is
being forced out of the body.
Dosage and Preparation ; Use 6–15 g in decoction; 2–6 ml tincture; 1–4 g
powdered extract. We can make tincture of burdock with either fresh or
dried material. A decoction is better when treating yīn vacuity, as the
warming and stimulating alcohol is detrimental to the already vacuous yīn.
The good-quality dried root is dark on the outside and whitish on the inside.
If you purchase the commonly available cut-and-sifted herb, a small
percentage of the material may appear to have webbing, as if infested with
bugs. This webbing is the meaty center of the root and is a common “side
effect” of the milling process.
Major Combinations
Combine with dandelion and Oregon grape root for liver-heat or
fire. This combination is also excellent for damp-heat in the
liver-gallbladder.
Combine with sarsaparilla and yellow dock for construction-
blood-heat with acute rashes or chronic conditions such as
psoriasis and eczema.
Combine with vitex and Oregon grape root for teenage acne.
Combine with marshmallow root for yīn vacuity heat.
Combine to change Mysterious Two Powder (èr miào sàn) with
coix, Chinese skullcap, figwort, and ocotillo for damp-heat in
the lower burner with swollen lymph nodes, dark, scanty urine,
and chronic diarrhea with phlegm in the stool.

Herbs That Dispel Wind And Dampness

Medicinals for dispelling wind and eliminating dampness comprise a
special category sometimes erroneously called “antirheumatics” in the
West. The major role of these herbs is to remove the pathogenic factors of
wind and dampness from the channels, network vessels, flesh, and joints.
When wind and dampness penetrate these areas of the body, they produce
pain, and because of the wind nature, this is usually a wandering pain.
We’ve represented four medicinals in this text that dispels wind and
eliminates dampness. Angelica is likely a familiar sight in this category of
Chinese medicinals, typified by angelica duhou. The angelica described in
this text differs enough that I cannot call it analogous to the Chinese
species. However, it is a good use for the same patterns. Yerba mansa
(Anemopsis californica) is another classic example of a medicinal in this
category. It is acrid, bitter, warm, and especially good to treat dampness,
particularly stagnant dampness, accumulated dampness that has gathered to
form phlegm, and damp toxin. Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) helps treat
wind-dampness and cold but has the added benefit of quickening the blood,
which is static in chronic conditions. Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)
is another valuable herb in this category that also treats lower burner damp-
heat conditions. e.g., strangury.
Angelican Angelica breweri, A. arguta, A. hendersonnii
Apiaceae Angelicae Breweri seu Argutae radix also known as Brewer’s
angelica, Lyall’s angelica, Henderson’s angelica
Flavor and Qì: acrid , bitter, and warm.

Channels Entered: Kidney, lung, and bladder.

Actions: anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic, and diuretic.
Functions and Indications
1. Dispels wind-dampness and scatters cold. We use Angelica to
treat wind-cold-damp obstacles with symptoms, for example,
pain and stiffness in the joints (especially the bones of the chest
area) and a sense of heaviness. Angelica is acrid and warm and
successfully ousts wind, dampness, and cold. When these
effects enter the channels, the qì stagnates, and the blood gets
static. This leads to pain, along these lines, the term obstruction.
 Angelica’s warmth and acridity also activate the qì and blood
inside the channels, and ease the pain.
2. Releases the outside, removes wind, and scatters cold. Angelica
treats wind-cold with symptoms of headache, neck and shoulder
pressure, and chills. Angelica’s warm and acrid nature removes
wind and scatters cold, re-illuminates the outside, and
successfully treats external attacks of wind-cold.
3. Courses qì, revives blood and calms pain. Angelica is an
excellent medicinal for pain because of qì stagnation and blood
stasis associated with wind and cold or traumatic wounds. Use
as portrayed underneath, or prepare as a balm for external
application to treat joint pain, muscle irritation, or traumatic
injury.

Precaution; Use angelica with caution for yīn vacuity with heat signs and
individuals with sensitive stomachs or a background marked by acid reflux.
Avoid use during pregnancy.
Dosage and Preparation; Use 3–9 g in decoction, and 2–4 ml tincture.
Angelica decoction is the favored preparation, as the tincture is acrid and
difficult to mask when added to an excellent formula. Prepare tincture for
internal use out of dried plant material. For external preparations, new plant
tincture is good. High quality dried material is firm, aromatic, and resinous.
There ought to be significant pitch marbling the internal parts of the roots.

Major Combinations

Combine with yerba mansa and turmeric for the wind-damp-

cold obstacle of the shoulders, elbows, or wrists. This
combination is also excellent when applied externally as an
ointment or plaster.
Combine with Osha for wind-cold invading the outside with
symptoms of a stiff neck, sore throat, chills, slight fever, and
headache. This combination is also useful for wind-dampness
invasions.
Yerba Mansa Anemopsis californica Saururaceae Anemopsi Californicae
radix et rhizome. Other basic names incorporate yerba del manso, manso,
lizard tail.

Flavor and Qì : acrid, bitter, warm, aromatic.

Channels Entered: lung, bladder, spleen.
Actions: antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic, and
astringent

Functions and Indications

1. Dispels wind and dampness. Yerba mansa is used to treat
wind-damp hindrance, especially when associated with cold,
with symptoms of joint pain, swelling of the joints, and joint
pain made awful by cold, damp weather. Yerba mansa also is
good to treat mucus held up in the channels. The herb is acrid
and warm, aptly dissipating breeze and dampness and settling
hindrance because of external invasion of wind-dampness.
Because of its warm nature, it is especially useful for wind-
dampness associated with cold. However, its bitter nature gives
it an unmistakable drying action, making it applicable in
dampness conditions. With right formulation, we can
incorporate this herb with acceptable impact in formulas for
either wind-damp-cold or wind-damp-heat. The mashed leaves
make an outstanding plaster for these conditions, although I use
the roots primarily because of better availability. At the point
when delayed dampness conditions go untreated, dampness will
gather in the channels. After some time, it will solidify into
mucus. When mucus gathers and stagnates in the channels, qì
and blood cease to stream normally, and obstacles and pain
follow. Yerba mansa’s acrid, bitter, and warm nature transforms
mucus in the channels, animates the blood, invigorates the qì,
and resolves pain and obstacle.
2. Dispels wind and scatters cold; Yerba mansa is useful for the
invasion of wind-cold evil with symptoms of heat emanation,
aversion to cold, cough, headache, generalized aches and pains,
 absence of sweating, nasal blockage, and runny nose with clear,
slender mucus. Yerba mansa’s acrid and warm nature dissipates
wind, scatters cold, and viably outthrusts external invasion of
wind-cold pathogens. The herb has an affinity for the head and
face, specifically for the external invasion of wind-cold,
affecting the sinuses. Its bitter flavor and inclination to dry
viably drain and dry sinus blockage. This utilization can stretch
out to mucus heat in the sinus with a thick, clingy, and yellow
cry.
3. Dries damp, scatters cold, and assists moderate healing bruises.
Yerba mansa is successful against moderate healing bruises and
toxic swellings, (for example, innominate poison swelling) in
which the etiology is of a damp and cold birthplace. Because
this herb strongly dries dampness, it very well may join with the
right herbs to treat toxic swellings of a damp-heat nature. Yerba
mansa is bitter and warm and viably drains dampness and
scatters cold. It is also acrid and warm, scattering stagnation and
transforming the stagnant dampness.

Precaution; Yerba mansa is relatively safe, but it’s dispersing and drying
qualities are best avoided during pregnancy. Use caution with patients who
have qì or yīn vacuity because of the herb’s strong moving and drying
properties. Although yerba mansa is warm, it regularly applies to heat and
heat-poison conditions. This may appear counterintuitive to some; however,
this is one exemption in which herbs with warm qì can apply to treat warm
diseases.

Dosage and Preparation; Use 3–9 g in decoction, and 2–4 ml tincture. The
new plant tincture is ideal, although tincture made with dry plant material
will do the trick. The decoction works well, but the taste can be very
challenging. The leaves (or root) can be prepared as a wash or made into a
balm for external application. The leaves also make an excellent bath for
joint or muscle obstacles. Quality dried root corrodes the hued with an
aromatic smell. It ought to be acrid, bitter, and somewhat desensitizing to
the taste.
Major Combinations
 Combine with black cohosh, California figwort, and willow
bark for stiff, hot, painful joints. For acute conditions, add small
portions of yucca root.
Combine with ambrosia, magnolia buds, and yerba santa for
sinus clog with clear or white mucus. They can administer this
for mucus that is either bounteous and runny or difficult to
discharge. For yellow or green mucus, add echinacea, golden-
seal, and Chinese skullcap.
Combine with goldenseal, Chinese skullcap, and echinacea for
damp-heat toxic swellings and wounds. Apply both externally
and internally, joining with licorice and ginger for internal use.
Add dāng guī and astragalus for moderate healing wounds.

Sassafras Sassafras albidum Lauraceae Sassafras Albidi cortex radicis

Flavor and Qì: acrid, bitter, warm, and aromatic.
Channels Entered: lung, liver, and stomach.

Actions: alterative, antirheumatic, antiseptic, carminative, diaphoretic, and

diuretic.
Functions and Indications
1. Scatters cold, transforms dampness, and dissipates wind. We
use sassafras to treat wind-damp-cold hindrance. Sassafras is
acrid and aromatic, versatile and penetrating. Therefore, it is an
important medicinal for out-thrusting external breeze damp
attacks. While its aromatic and acrid, nature makes sassafras
particularly useful for wind and damp conditions, note that these
qualities also animate blood and stimulate the development of
qì. Although warm and able to scatter cold, we regularly use
sassafras for heat conditions. Heat in obstruction syndromes
results by stagnation and stasis. In this way, settling stagnation
and stasis can clear heat. This is likely how and why sassafras if
fit for use successfully to hinder syndromes with associated
heat. Sassafras is also useful for wind-damp, affecting the skin
 with tingling. For this sign, we may use sassafras in either heat
or cold conditions.
2. Quickens the blood and transforms stasis. Sassafras treats
blood stasis from various etiologies, including trauma, obstacle
syndromes, and blocked menstruation. You can administer
Sassafras either internally or externally for blood stasis. The
herb is acrid, bitter, aromatic, and warm, and it is versatile and
penetrating. It moves qì and stimulates blood, penetrating the
channels to free them while reviving the network vessels.

Precaution; Safrole, a constituent found in significant quantities in

sassafras (and in smaller amounts in cinnamon, nutmeg, and camphor), seen
as carcinogenic in animals. Since sassafras root bark is good to integrate
some popular recreational drugs such as MDMA (ecstasy) and MDA, the
sale of this item is checked by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Also,
many individuals have disregarded sassafras, but its right use at legitimate
dosages has never, to the author’s knowledge, caused cancer in humans.
McGuffin et al. state that the herb isn’t for long haul use and that the
suggested dosage (which they list as 10 g of root powder and 2–4 ml of
liquid extract of root bark) does not have to exceed. Do not use sassafras for
significant periods and don’t use the essential oil internally.

Dosage and Preparation; Use 3–6 g in implantation or light decoction; 1–

2 ml tincture. Outstanding quality dried root bark corrodes the hued and is
strongly aromatic. It is regular for the item to be “dusty” after being
handled.
Major Combinations
Combine with Oregon grape root, sarsaparilla, and red clover
for difficult skin conditions from various etiologies associated
with heat.
Combine with California figwort, Oregon grape root, and
burdock for wind-damp-heat hindrance.
Combine with wintergreen, yerba mansa, and angelica for wind-
damp-cold hindrance.
Wintergreen aultheria procumbens Ericaceae Gaultheriae Procumbens
folium.

Flavor and Qì: acrid, bitter, cool, aromatic.

Channels Entered: liver, Kidney, bladder, stomach.

Actions: anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic, diuretic.

Functions and Indications
1. Dispels wind-dampness and clears heat . Wintergreen is
useful for treating wind-damp hindrance when wind-cold-damp
has transformed into a heat obstacle, giving symptoms of
blistering, swollen, painful joints, and joint pain made awful by
blustery, damp, or sweltering weather. Because of its ability to
dissipate dampness, this herb is successful for acute syndromes
in which dampness has held up in the muscles, causing muscle
aches and stiffness. The plant is also good for external
application in these conditions. Wintergreen essential oil is the
main preparation used externally, found in many liniments
(counting Chinese formulations). Wintergreen is acrid and cool
and subsequently an excellent herb for scattering wind and
clearing heat in ceaseless or acute inflammatory conditions. It is
useful in conditions related to the external attack of heat or to
different factors left untreated and therefore transformed into
heat.
2. Drains damp and clears heat in the lower burner ;
Wintergreen is useful in damp-heat lín syndrome, with
symptoms of painful urination, blocked urination, blood in the
pee, pain because of benevolent prostatic hypertrophy, and
anatomical pain kidneys because of inflammation. Wintergreen
is bitter and cool. Bitter drains and cool, clear heat, making the
herb successful for damp-heat conditions. In fact, wintergreen
has an affinity for the anatomical kidneys and the rest of the
lower burner. Subsequently, it is handy for treating biomedically
characterized kidney inflammation and disorders associated
with either repletion or vacuity heat syndromes of the water
 phase. It may also clear heat from kidney yīn vacuity with
symptoms of increased sexual want and spermatorrhea.
3. Penetrates the channels and prepares qì and blood. We use
wintergreen to treat patterns of qì stagnation and blood stasis
that have trans-framed into heat, for example, dysmenorrhea,
amenorrhea, colic, pain in the epigastrium, or abdomen, and
toothache. The gloom of qì and blood lead to burdensome heat.
Wintergreen is bitter and strongly aromatic. It is versatile and
penetrating and opens sorrow, making it an important medicinal
for various sorts of burdensome heat.

Precaution; Because the salicylates in wintergreen may interact with some

drugs, causing bleeding and opposite symptoms, practice caution with
patients taking abortifacients, anticoagulants, anti-emetics, anti-epileptics,
cytotoxics, diuretics, NSAIDs, or uricosuric drugs. Notice that natural
salicylates are less active than aspirin; along these lines, it requires less
caution. Wintergreen essential oil is for external use.

Dosage and Preparation; Use 2–6 g in implantation (hot or cold); 0.5–3

ml tincture. For lower burner damp-heat, cold implantation is ideal.
Wintergreen essential oil ought to it were used. We join this oil with
different fixings to prepare pastes, plasters, salves, and oils for treating
trauma. Outstanding quality dried herb is green, aromatic, and contains no
stems.

Major Combinations
Combine with cleavers and usnea for damp-heat lín syndrome
with scanty, dark yellow pee, with or without pain and blood in
the pee.
For external use, merge with yerba mansa and cayenne to make
a paste for joint pain. For this reason, I lean toward the essential
oil, blending it all into the paste. Wintergreen also merges well
with St. John’s wort, arnica, and cayenne in liniments or oils for
external application.
 Chapter Eight

QI, THE ENERGY OF LIFE

F irst Perception: Qi, the Energy of Life The single greatest foundational
idea to examine is that of Qi since it has no counterpart in Western
medicine or Western perspective. The universal single English word
translation of Qi is “energy.” This is a useful basic interpretation, and with a
complete understanding of the idea, it turns into a helpful show with which
to allude to Qi. However, it needs significant addition for a full, authentic
understanding, enabling one to know and use Qi and to access it for the
advancement of health legitimately.
We can perhaps consider Qi matter nearly turning out to be energy or
energy at the purpose of materializing." In the broadest universal sense, not
constrained to medical practice or thinking, Qi is simultaneously both the
material foundation (substance) of everything in the presence and the power
(energy) driving all activity, animate and inanimate alike. This may be a
challenging method to understand materializing same as how material
science depicts the properties of light. Light is a discrete element, a photon
(substance), and a wave (energy). While many people may consider light
having a place totally in the realm of the inanimate energy, medical
researchers working in biophysics know that our DNA discharges
biophotons, packets of light energy that advice and direct every aspect of
our physical being from a hereditary level. Along these lines, inside our
body, we may see the light as the extension among energy and matter and
between the inorganic and organic. It is important to know about Qi as it
exists in the greater environment too. We naturally interface with
environmental Qi, so it applies a powerful effect on health, regardless of
whether we are aware of it. That gives us a complete idea of how it affects
our wellness, both in the health-supporting ways taught in this book and the
ways wherein environmental Qi can bolster or adversely affect our health
and offer ascent to various illnesses. For human beings to encounter
genuine health at each level—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual—
it’s crucial to harmonize our life with our environment. Environmental
energies are always a factor in mining health from Chinese medicine. The
most straightforward translation of Qi as it relates to the physical body is
usually “life power” or “vital life energy.” These phrases contain all the
interpretations we need—an accurate general interpretation when using Qi
as it manifests in the living body. The only Chinese character for Qi can
also mean “breath,” “breathing, or” “air, “While” “air” and “breath” are not
exact as the totality of Qi that is life energy, those interpretations bolster the
association among Qi and life. Undeniably, Qi is life, and we could not live
without it; similarly, we could not live without air or breath. Qi is what
warms and animates us, secures against illness, gives the functionality of all
our body organs and physiological systems, and sparks our awareness and
understanding. Where there is enough Qi, there is health. The ailments of
mature age are all because of the decrease in Qi, and when Qi runs out,
death follows. The basic Chinese medicine rule Bu tong ze tong, tong ze bu
tong translates to “no free stream, pain; free stream, no pain.” This means
that any pain shows a block in the normal progression of Qi, and with the
free progression of Qi, there is no pain. We also have regularly taken this
phrase to mean that where there is a free progression of Qi, there is no
sickness of almost any kind, since Qi impediment is at the base of many
diseases, and that the nearness of abundant, normal Qi is required for
acceptable health and all healing. If Qi is hindered in any one part or many
parts of the body, there is a comparing deficiency of Qi in different parts of
the body. This is exactly analogous to damming a stream. Where the dam is
constructed, the stream water is successfully blocked. Past the dam, there is
practically no water.

Qualities and Functions inside the Body

The Chinese character for the word Qi delineates a rice bowl, with steam
giving up from the rice. This pictogram contains a wealth of information. In
Chinese medicine and different facets of Chinese scientific, philosophical,
and spiritual thought, it’s comprehended that Qi is both the intention of
power and the material foundation, the most elemental substance known to
humanity, as recently presented.

In Qi, the rice in character is a powerful substance. As the major food, it is

nutritious and speaks to the material foundation of life and, by expansion,
the material foundation of everything in presence. In our body, Qi exists on
a range from coarse and thick to light and fine, and the rice in character
speaks to the coarser manifestations of Qi. The rising steam is considerably
less substantial and speaks to the vivacious qualities of Qi. It is warm,
moving, and contains functional energy enabling it to accomplish work.
Steam has been used to warm rooms, guarding individuals comfortably and
from environmental danger. We have used it to cleanse and detoxify the
body, in sweat cabins and steam rooms, to advance better health. It has
powered motors to assist humanity with accomplishing various tasks. It
gives one of the least difficult and healthiest ways to cook foods, observing
the nutritional value of the food, and transforming it and making it easier to
process. We can see the steam as the more profound, better essential quality
of the rice, not normally recognizable in its raw state.

Similarly, the Qi inside us isn’t normally recognizable to an untrained eye.

There are many sorts of Qi cataloged in Chinese literature relevant to the
life and the health of a human being. Despite these apparent differences, it
ought to be comprehended that they are all different manifestations of one
Qi.
The Classic of Difficulties (a historical and basic important Chinese
medical content) states, “Qi is the base of a human being.” This idea
expanded in Simple Questions (the first of two writings contained inside the
ancient foundational Chinese medical canon, the Huangdi Neijing): “The
association of the Qi of Heaven and Earth is called a human being.” From
this, we can observe that Qi is an energy that manifests on physical (Earth)
and spiritual (Heaven) levels. A human being is a mind-boggling organism,
existing on many levels simultaneously—even secular, we can consider
only the physical, emotional, and mental levels—One comprehend that the
Qi inside a body also exists in various states simultaneously, that it is
always changing and moving. It may be active, light, and fine in some
areas, and exceptionally thick and substantive in different areas. Its
capacities can be general and seem certain simultaneously, and it can
change its structure based upon its physical location and the instant
functional needs inside the body. As Qi merges to coarser substance, it can
transform into a physical structure or cause physical structures to alter,
gather, or aggregate. This can either be healthful, as in tissue repair and
regeneration, or pathological, as on account of tumor formation, sores, or
nodularity.

Biological Energies Used in Western Medicine

 Chapter Nine

MERIDIANS, THE PATHWAYS OF HEALTH

T hephysical
second foundational idea to understand is that of meridians, the non-
vessels through which Qi streams inside the body. There are
twelve regular meridians, isolated into six bilateral Hand and six bilateral
Foot meridians. Each meridian has its arrangement of acupoints needed for
specific therapeutic purposes. The Pericardium meridian has the least
number of focuses, nine, while the Urinary Bladder has the most, sixty-
seven. They all have vertical trajectories, meaning they are pretty much
perpendicular to the ground when you are standing up. The Hand meridian
end focuses, either the first or last point on any meridian, or near the tips of
the fingers.
In contrast, the Foot meridian end focuses are at or exceptionally near the
toes’ tips. The Foot meridians don’t travel legitimately into the arms, and
the Hand meridians don’t travel straightforwardly into the legs. Both do
enter the middle since each communicates with its associated internal
organ. The Hand and Foot Yang meridians traverse the external part of the
head and have focuses needed there. They end inside the brain.

Kidney; When the following TCM organ was presented, I rather delighted
in the challenge of attempting to make sense of what the ancient Chinese
were saying. Each portrayal became a puzzle for me: “Here’s my depiction.
What am I?” When we came to the Kidney, I discovered covered up in the
flowery language so much meanings, ultimately fathomable toward the
Western mind. “The Kidney is the secretary of state. It has light, quality,
power, and artfulness because it stores the quintessence of life, administers
bone, which produces marrow, and then goes to the brain and twists in the
hair, and externalizes in the ear. When the pith in the Kidney is abundant,
the appendages feel strong, agile, and one hears and sees very well. The
hair is the cluster of the Kidney.
If the kidney Qi is insufficient, there are lower backache, delicate bones,
weakness, fatigue, dazedness, and neglect.” Suppose great Kidney work
makes an individual feel strong, agile, and fiery. In that case, the depiction
of Kidney Qi deficiency, with lower backache, delicate bones, weakness,
fatigue, unsteadiness, and carelessness, fits the aging procedure pretty much
consummately. I used to ponder about the twists in the hair and externalizes
in the ear until it happened to me that with aging, or a decrease in Kidney
embodiment, the hair diminishes and it impairs hearing. The term pith ft is
sometimes used to mean semen. Since aging is the consequence of a
dynamic decrease in conceptive hormones, then the TCM Kidney must
incorporate the regenerative system.
Regarding Kidney work speaking to conceptive hormones, how can one
explain the produce marrow which goes to the brain? It made sense when I
analyzed the marrow and brain individually. Marrow, here, speaks to the
two segments of bone: cortex and marrow. Remember that Deficient
Kidney Qi (work) means the aging procedure. Sometimes with aging, the
bone marrow’s ability to deliver platelets can decay. Anemia is a geriatric
patient investigated by first looking for a wellspring of blood misfortune; if
we discover no source, at that point, we can perform a bone marrow biopsy
to decide whether the anemia is from a decrease in the production of red
platelets. The other basic bone state of aging is osteoporosis, which is
diminishing the hard cortex. Osteoporosis happens when either male or
female regenerative hormones are deficient. The Kidney tonifying
(enhancing) herb Drynaria Fortunei (literally, marrow tonifying) is a
segment of many herb solutions for numerous geriatric conditions, for
example, anemia and back pain.
 Chapter Ten

RECIPE

P reparing food with medicinal herbs to increase therapeutic and nutritional

values is one of the most ancient and original standards in traditional
Chinese cooking. In fact, inside the royal palaces and wealthy households
of ancient China, it was always customary to keep professional herbalists to
create all the plans prepared in the kitchen, after which the cooks did the
actual cooking. Herbalists chose which medicinal herbs they should join
with which foods. These herbal formulas have remained a fundamental part
of traditional Chinese plans down to the current day, which explains why
therapeutically strong herbs, for example, garlic, ginger, and spring onions
appear in almost every Chinese meal. Also, the essential herbs used to
balance both the flavors and the essential energies in food, the medicinal
herb most profoundly favored in Chinese herbal cooking, is the tonic
variety. Tonic dishes are specially mixed combinations of fortifying foods
and tonifying herbs. Their primary capacities are to increase quality and
stamina, enhance energy and invulnerability, help sexual vitality and
ripeness, and draw out life. While many tonic dishes have curative value for
various normal illnesses, their primary job is to keep individuals healthy
and strengthen them and expand the happiness and vital elements of life to a
mature age.
The plans introduced in this book rank among the all-time favorite tonic
dishes on the Chinese menu, both for their colorful taste and their powerful
therapeutic values. All can be easily prepared at home. Many of the normal
tonic herbs, such as Chinese Wolfberry, Job’s Tears, cinnamon, gingko nuts,
lotus seeds, white growth, dried lily bulb, and red dates, are available
Chinese food markets, and in the Asian food segments of well-loaded
supermarkets. In contrast, one can purchase others in any Chinese herb
shops.
Herbal Ingredients; Astragalas (huang qi) is an extreme, fibrous root with
a yellowish earthy colored skin. It tonifies internal organs and fortifies
resistance; it help improve blood circulation and lower blood pressure and
glucose.
Atractylodes (bai zhu) is a rhizome that invigorates the spleen and
regulates the stomach. We frequently use this herb for treating diarrhea,
lessening water maintenance, and forestalling miscarriages.
Bitter apricot seed (nan xingren) is the seed of the apricot tree. It eases
cough and breathing difficulty, soaks the digestive tract, and relaxes the
bowels. We also use it with different herbs to calm wheezing and treat
constipation. This herb is toxic; overdose may cause spewing.
Chinese raspberry (fu pen zi) tonifies the kidneys and liver. It is regularly
used to treat helpless vision, visit urination and men’s feebleness.
Dried lily bulb (bai he) is a somewhat bitter herb that saturates the lungs
and clears the body heat. It is used to ease cough and sore throat, and to
tranquilize the mind.
Dried longan substance (long yen rou) is a sweet and warming tonic to the
heart and blood. It also benefits digestion and has soothing properties. This
herb is regularly used to prepare sweet pastry soups or improve the flavor of
dishes containing bitter herbs.
Gingko nuts (bai guo) are the fruits of the gingko tree. These yellow fruits
with a hard shell fortify the heart, lungs, and skin. They are traditionally
used to eliminate mucus and treat determined cough. Late examinations
have shown that these fruits are interesting antioxidants and help increase
blood circulation in the brain. People now broadly use them as a health
supplement to improve memory and advance life span.

Ginseng (ren shen) is an “adaptogen” that balances pulse and sugar and
improves immune reaction. It also nourishes the body’s vital fluids and has
been the favorite life span tonic for quite some time.
Glehnia Root (sha shen) is a health tonic that nourishes the lungs and
advantages the stomach. We use it for treating constant dry cough and to
eliminate mucus.
Ledebouriella Root (fang feng) assists with scattering wing along these
lines, ease body aches, painful diarrhea, and rheumatic conditions. It is also
used to mitigate spasm.
Lotus seeds (lian zi) have been a traditional tonic for male sexual strength
and to address female menstrual disorders. It also has nervine properties
that mitigate anxious pressure and insomnia.
Solomon’s Seal (yu zhu) is a tonic that nourishes the stomach and advances
body fluid production. It is used to improve fatigue, loss of appetite, weak
digestion, extreme energy exhaustion, and barrenness.

Wax Privet Seed (nu jen zi) is a liver tonic that soothes headaches and eye
issues caused by liver inflammation. It also tonifies the kidneys and is good
as a male sexual tonic and to give an overall lift to the energy system.

White fungus (bai mu er), also called “white tree ears,” is a tonic to yin
energy and the lungs. It improves all respiratory capacities, increases energy
production, and assists with regulating blood pressure.
White Turnip Herbal Soup

Sparkly Asparagus is a popular herb well known for its saturating

properties. It is regularly used to reestablish vitality after an illness or a
medical procedure, calm, constant dry skin, and enhance the discharge of
sexual hormones. In this recipe, we join it with white turnip, another herb
that assists with clearing the lungs from mucus and cool the body. White
turnip is also viable for controlling ceaseless cough and purifying the skin.
Ingredient

1¼ liters (5 cups) of water, 15 g (½ oz) of Shiny Asparagus (tian men

dong), washed 300 g (10 oz) white turnip, cut into meager cuts 1 teaspoon
salt, or to taste 1 teaspoon newly ground black pepper 1 spring onion,
minced, to garnish
Preparation

1. Bring 500 ml (2 cups) of the water to a boil in a saucepan over

medium heat. Add the herb and stew revealed until the water
has diminished to half, about 20 minutes. Expel from the heat
and strain the stock with a cloth or fine strainer. Save the clear
stock and discard the residue.
2. Allow the remaining water to boil in a saucepan, pour in the
clear stock, and add the turnip cuts. Diminish the heat to low,
spread, and stew for 5 to 8 minutes, until the turnip is delicate.
3. Remove from the heat. Add pepper and salt, then blend well.
Serve hot and garnished with spring onion.

Serves 4 Preparation time: is 5 mins and Cooking time is 25 mins.

Poached Eggs and Mushroom in Clear Broth

This is a tonic soup with high nutritional value. Pine seeds are an excellent
supplement for enhancing quality and endurance. Eggs are a rich wellspring
of protein and essential fatty acids, and the supplement required for extra
quality and stamina. Attempt to purchase the eggs of organically took care
of unfenced chickens. These give a far preferable nutritional profile over
the ordinary mass-delivered eggs. The chicken stock further improves the
nutritional and tonic value of this fortifying soup.
Ingredients

3 liters (12 cups) water 15 g (½ oz) pine seeds (tune zi), flushed and
squashed 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, weakened with 1 liter (4 cups) water 5
eggs 750 g (1½ lbs) chicken parts, cleaned 1 tablespoon rice wine ½
teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon newly ground black pepper 5 large dried shiitake
mushrooms, and soaked in boiling water until delicate, stems discarded,
caps cut into slight strips 1 spring onion, cut.
Preparation

1. Allow the remaining water boil in a stockpot over high heat.

Add the pine seeds, diminish the heat to low, and stew them for
 30 mins, until the water decreases to about two-third. Expel
from the heat and strain the stock with a cloth or fine strainer.
Save the clear stock and discard the leftovers.
2. Bring the weakened rice vinegar to a boil in a saucepan.
Diminish the heat to low and keep it stewing. Individually,
break the eggs and delicately place them into the pan. Poach the
eggs for about one moment, at that point expel carefully with a
slotted spoon, wash in cool water, and put aside on a plate.
3. Bring the pine seed stock to a boil, add the chicken parts, and
lessen the heat to low and boil for 45 minutes. Expel from the
heat and strain. Hold the clear stock and discard the bones and
parts.
4. Bring the pine seed chicken stock to a boil, season with the
wine, salt, and pepper, then add the cut mushroom and spring
onion. Lessen the heat to a delicate stew, add the poached eggs,
and keep on stewing for 1 more moment. Expel from the heat.
5. Ladle one egg and some mushroom into five individual serving
bowls, at that point ladle the stock over and serve hot. Instead of
eggs, you may also prepare this soup with new prawns as the
main nutritional ingredient. For additional flavor, sprinkle each
serving bowl with some slashed new coriander leaves (cilantro).
You may also add a dash of Chinese sesame oil for a nutty
flavor and additional tonic value, especially in winter.

Serve s 5, Preparation time: 20 mins + 30 mins to soak Cooking time : 1

hour 20 mins

Lingzhi Lean Pork Soup

For a considerable length of time, the Chinese recommended Lingzhi, a
mushroom kind, as the “lord of herbs” for its excellent impact in improving
overall health, enhancing stamina, and advancing life span. It is advanced
as an immune system promoter, a blood pressure stabilizer, and an
antioxidant. Joined with red dates, Wild Yam and Wolfberry, this soup is
excellent in fortifying and supporting the body. However, one ought not to
drink this soup while having a typical cold.

Ingredient
2½ liters (10 cups) water 19 g (3/5 oz) Lingzhi, flushed and cut 19 g (3/5
oz) Wild Yam (huai shan), washed 5 pitted red dates (hong zao), washed
350 g (12 oz) lean pork, washed and scalded with boiling water, 2
tablespoons Chinese Wolfberry (gou qizi), and washed 1 teaspoon salt, or to
taste

Preparation

1. Heat the water to the point of boiling in a stockpot. Add all the
ingredients, aside from the salt, and cook over high heat for 10
minutes.
2. Diminish the heat to low and stew revealed for 2½ hours.
Season with the salt and expel from the heat. Serve hot.

Serves 4-6 Preparation time is 5 mins Cooking time: 2 hours 45 mins

Brown Rice and Bamboo Shoots Cooked in Dodder Broth

Dodder is a traditional Chinese herbal solution for male barrenness and
urinary tract issues. Besides, its property has a sexual tonic, it also
reinforces bone and ligament, calms lumbago, and balances the female
reproductive system. The small seeds, which have a savory flavor, are
boiled straightforwardly with rice, enhancing the taste of this dish and
protecting maximum therapeutic power.

Ingredient
200 g (1 cup) uncooked brown rice, washed in a few changes of water and
drained 200 g (7 oz) new bamboo shoot, stripped and diced 625 ml (2½
cups) water 10 g (⅓ oz) Chinese Dodder seeds (tu si zi), flushed and placed
in a zest bag 2 teaspoons soy sauce ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste 2
tablespoons rice wine 1 teaspoon sugar.

Preparation
 1. In a large saucepan or stockpot, carry all the ingredients to a full
boil. Diminish the heat to the low, spread firmly with a top, and
stew for about 45 minutes until you tenderly cook the rice and
all it has absorbed all the water.
2. Expel from the heat and serve in individual serving bowls.
3. For stronger flavors, various sauces, such as sesame oil,
Szechuan pepper-salt powder, bean stew paste, and minced
spring onion, may be served along with the dish on the table to
suit individual taste.

Serve s 4 Preparation time is 5 mins. Cooking time: 50 mins

Fish Ball Spinach Soup

Achyranthes, known as “Bull Knee” in Chinese, is a traditional female tonic

that rectifies menstrual disorders. It is also a general liver and kidney tonic
for old people, advancing blood circulation, cleansing the bloodstream, and
easing pains in the lower back and waist. It also stimulates the energy
stream in the meridians. We join this recipe with new handmade fish balls
and prawns to balance its therapeutic and nutritional values.
Ingredient

15 g (½ oz) Achyranthes Root (niu xi) 1 ½ liter (6 cups) water 300 g (10 oz)
white fish filets, cleaned, minced 1 egg 1½ teaspoons lotus root powder or
cornstarch, blended in with 4 tablespoons water 125 g (4 oz) new prawns,
stripped and deveined 125 g (4 oz) spinach, stemmed, slashed 1 teaspoon
soy sauce

Preparation
1. 1 teaspoon salt, or as you desire, ½ teaspoon newly ground
black pepper 1 Bring the herb and ½ litter (2 cups) of the water
to a boil in a saucepan. Diminish the heat to low, spread, and
stew for about 15 minutes, until the blend decreased to about
half. Expel from the heat, strain, and hold the clear stock.
Discard the leftovers.
 2. Combine the fish, egg, and lotus root powder or cornstarch
blend in a bowl and blend well.
3. Allow the remaining water to a boil in a stockpot over high heat.
Spoon 1 heaped tablespoon of the fish blend, wet your hands,
and shape it into a ball, then drop it gently into the boiling
water. When the fish ball is cooked, it will float to the boiling
water surface. Evacuate the cooked fish ball with a slotted
spoon and transfer to a bowl. Keep on making the fish balls in
the same manner with the remaining fish blend.
4. Add the shrimp and spinach to the same pot of boiling water,
and season with the soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Pour in the herb
stock and return the soup to a boil. Finally, add the cooked fish
balls, stew revealed for 2-3 minutes, and expel from the heat.
5. Serve hot in a large soup tureen or individual serving bowls. For
example, different vegetables, such as white turnip, bok choy, or
new mushrooms, may be good in addition instead of the
spinach. You may incorporate clams or shellfish with or in place
of the shrimp. New hacked coriander leaves (cilantro) may be
added as a garnish to give extra flavor.

Serves 4 Preparation time is 30 mins. Cooking time: 25 mins.

Watercress Sparerib Soup with Dried Figs

We well know watercress for its nutraceutical value. Besides, its special
vitamin C and antioxidant Beta-carotene substance, it is also plentiful in
vitamin E and is a natural antibiotic. We regularly use it in complementary
medicine to speed up detoxification forms, clear heat in the body, and
support the lungs. In this soup, one must boil watercress with figs, apricot
seeds, and spareribs to enhance its taste and nutritional value. This is an
excellent cooling soup for the entire family, easy to prepare, delightful, yet
nutritious.

Ingredient
350 g (12 oz) watercress (xi yang cai) 3 liters (12 cups) water 4 dried figs
(wu hua guo), halved and washed 2 tablespoons sweet apricot seed (bei
xingren), flushed 2 tablespoons bitter apricot seed (nan xingren), flushed
500 g (1 lb) spareribs, washed and scalded with boiling water and cut the
new ginger root.

Preparation
1. 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste, first Rinse the watercress well. Soak
in delicately salted water for 60 minutes, at that point wash
again in two or three changes of water and drain.
2. Allow the water to boil in a stockpot. Add all the ingredients
with the watercress and add salt, then cook over high heat for 20
minutes. Reduce the heat to low and stew revealed for 60
minutes.
3. Add the watercress and keep on stewing for 1 more hour.
Season with the salt and expel from the heat. Serve hot in
individual serving bowls.

Serves 4 Preparation time: 10 mins + 1 hours to soak. Cooking time: 2

hours 30 mins

Sliced Fish and Vegetable Soup with Quail Grass

Quail grass or Lagos spinach is a solution for hypertension and the eye
issues caused by it. It is also cooling to the liver along these lines,
decreasing liver inflammation. In this recipe, join quail grass with fish and
seaweed, which give the essential minerals to regulating blood pressure.
This dish is beneficial as a regular part of the eating regimen for keeping
blood pressure balanced, easing pressure to the liver and improving vision.
Ingredient
1 ¼ liter (5 cups) water 15 g (½ oz) quail grass or celosia seeds (qing xiang
zi), flushed and placed in a zest bag,1 piece kombu seaweed (12 cm/4 in
since a long time ago), washed and cut into strips 250 g (8 oz) new white
fish filets, cut into flimsy pieces 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste 1 stalk new
celery, minced 1 cm (½ in) new youthful ginger root, stripped and cut into
meager strips, soaked in water for 30 minutes

Preparation
1. Twigs of celery leaves, to garnish (optional), and bring 1 liter (4
cups) of the water to boil in a saucepan. Decrease the heat to
low, add the bag of quail grass seeds, spread, and stew for 60
minutes. Expel from the heat and strain. Discard the residue and
hold the stock.
2. Combine the herb stock and the remaining water, then heat to
the point of boiling. Add the kombu seaweed and stew revealed
for 5 minutes. Add the fish and salt, and come back to a boil, at
that point stew for 2-3 additional minutes, until the fish got
cooked. Mix in the minced celery and expel from the heat.
3. Transfer the soup to a soup tureen or ladle into individual
serving bowls. Top with the ginger strips and garnish with
celery leaves. Serve hot. If liked, you may add some cleaved
bok choy or new spinach to the soup and the seaweed instead of
kombu. You may also use different seaweed.

Serves 4 Preparation time: 15 mins + 30 mins to soak. Cooking time : 1

hour 15 mins.

Miso Fish Soup with Daikon

Wild Yam is a tonic to the spleen’s elements, stomach, and lungs, and it also
helps regulate hormone production in ladies. Late research has shown that
this herb brings down the blood sugar level and may along these lines
assists with controlling diabetes. It enhances these properties when joined
with the minerals and trace components given in this recipe by new fish and
seaweed.
Ingredient
750 ml (3 cups) of water, 1 piece of kombu seaweed (5 cm/2 in since a long
time ago), cut the stripes into 3 pieces (15 g) Wild Yam (huai shan), soaked
in water, at that point mashed into paste 150 g (5 oz) Diakon radish,
stripped and destroyed 5 tablespoons miso paste 300 g (10 oz) white fish
filets (snakehead or grouper), cut the pinch of newly ground black pepper
and Sliced the spring onion, to garnish

Preparation
1. Allow the remaining water to boil in a saucepan. Add the
seaweed strips, spread, and stew for about 3 minutes. Add the
daikon, Wild Yam, and miso pastes, blend well and come back
to a boil. Diminish the heat to low, spread, and stew for 5
minutes.
2. Increase the gas or stove to medium, add the fish cuts, and cook
for about 2 minutes or until cook. Expel from the heat.
3. Sprinkle some black pepper to the soup and garnish with cut
spring onion. Scoop into individual serving dishes and serve
hot. Instead of kombu, you may also use different seaweed in
this soup. If you don’t care for Diakon, you may eliminate it
without diminishing the soup’s therapeutic efficacy. Szechuan
peppercorn-salt powder may be used instead of black pepper for
extra zing.

Serves 4 Preparation time is 30 mins. Cooking time : 15 mins.

Pigeon Stewed with Wild Yam and Wolfberry

In Chinese herbal cooking, Chinese Wolfberry has been renowned for a
considerable length of time for its intense tonic and aphrodisiac properties,
and its sweet flavor. Wolfberry advance hormone emissions in the two
people, increases the quality and stamina and is a strong yang energy tonic.
Wild Yam further lifts hormone production and also enhances the immune
reaction. And since pigeon is among the most intense of all tonic foods on
the Chinese menu, this dish gives a powerful lift to sexual vitality in the two
people and also serves to balance the entire endocrine system.
Ingredient
4 new pigeons, 1¼ liters (5 cups) water, 15 g (½ oz) Chinese Wolfberry
(gou qizi), flushed 20 cuts Wild Yam (huai shan), washed 2 tablespoons of
Chinese Shao Xing wine, 1 teaspoon salt or add salt to taste.

Preparation
1. Wash and clean the pigeons, then quarter each. Lowe the pigeon
into the boiling water already heat and quickly poach for few
moments. Rapidly expel them from the pan and put aside on a
platter.
2. In a stockpot, heat the water and herbs to the point of boiling.
Add the pigeon and wine, and come back to a boil. Decrease the
heat to low, spread with a top, and stew for 2 hours.
3. Expel from the heat, season with the salt, and serve immediately
in individual serving bowls. If pigeons are not available, you
may prepare this dish with small unfenced chickens, or tuji
(literally “earth chickens”) in Chinese. Except if the chickens
are genuinely unfenced, which means it allows them to benefit
from herbs, foliage, worms, and creepy crawlies, they won’t
have the ideal tonic properties.

Serves 4 Preparation time is 10 mins. Cooking time : 2 hours 5 mins.

Curried Cinnamon Rice

Cinnamon is a warming tonic to yang energy and is regularly used to

stimulate body heat, especially cold hands, and feet. It also invigorates the
complete energy system, making it an excellent tonic for those recuperating
from a long illness or medical procedure, or for general fatigue. In this
savory rice dish, join the cinnamon with curry to increase its warming and
stimulatory advantages to energy and blood circulation.
Ingredient
300 g (½ cups) uncooked brown rice 500 ml (2 cups) water 15 g (½ oz)
cinnamon bark (rou gui), broken into pieces, washed 3 tablespoons butter, 2
tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons curry powder, 3 cloves garlic, minced 375
ml (1½ cups) chicken stock, or water, 1 carrot, stripped and cubed 2 onions,
cut 2 potatoes, strip 1 green apple, stripped and cubed 1 teaspoon salt, or to
taste ½ teaspoon newly ground black pepper.

Preparation
1. Wash the brown rice in two or three times, then change the
water until it runs clear, then drain it. To cook the rice, place it
in the rice cooker, add 750 ml (3 cups) of water, and switch on
the cooker.
2. In a saucepan, heat the water to the boiling point. Diminish the
heat to low, add the cinnamon, and stew revealed until the water
decrease by half, about 20 minutes. Expel from the heat and
strain. Save the stock and discard the residue.
3. Melt the margarine in a wok over medium heat. Add the flour
and constantly mix until it frames a thick paste, at that point mix
in the curry powder and garlic. Pour in clean water or chicken
stock and heat the blend to the point of boiling. Add the carrot,
onion, potato, and apple, and blend well. Decrease the heat to
low, spread, and stew for 20 minutes. Pour in the cinnamon
stock and return the blend to a boil. Stew revealed for five
additional minutes, season with the salt and pepper, and expel
from the heat.
4. Spoon the cooked brown rice onto an individual serving platter,
spread the curried vegetables on top, and serve immediately. For
additional nutritional and therapeutic value, you may add 250 g
(8 oz) of chicken meat and cut it into 1-cm (½-in) solid shapes.
Pan-fried food the chicken separately in cooking oil and at that
point, add it to the curry and the cinnamon stock. You can
garnish this dish may with slashed new coriander leaves
(cilantro) or parsley.

Serves 6 Preparation time: 30 mins. Cooking time : 50 mins

Clam Vegetable Soup

Hemlock Parsley Root is regularly used to address menstrual disorders in
ladies and has a tonic rejuvenator after labor. It also advances blood
circulation and helps lower hypertension. Its warming properties make it a
popular herbal tonic for winter recipes, such as in this tasty soup, which
incorporates clams, ginger, and spring onion to enhance its body warming
properties.
Ingredient
2 liters (8 cups) of water, 15 g (½ oz) of Hemlock Parsley Root (chuan
xiong), daintily cut, flushed 1 carrot, stripped and diced 1 large potato,
stripped and diced 1 tablespoon finely slashed new ginger, 300 g (10 oz)
new clams, washed in salted water, at that point flushed 1 teaspoon salt, or
to taste ½ teaspoon newly ground black pepper, 1 spring onion, cut Cleaved
red bean stew to garnish (optional).

Preparation
1. Prepare the stock first by bringing 750 ml (3 cups) of the water
to a moving boil in a saucepan. Lessen the heat to low, add the
cut herb, and stew revealed until the water decrease by half,
about 30 minutes. Expel from the heat and strain through a cloth
or fine strainer. Hold the stock and discard the residue.
2. Allow the stock in remaining water, carrot, potato, and ginger to
boil in a stockpot, spread, and stew for 20-30 minutes. Evacuate
the spread, add the clams and come back to a boil. Stew
revealed for 1-2 minutes, or until heat opens all the clams up.
3. Season with the salt and pepper, add the spring onion, and expel
from the heat. Serve immediately in a soup tureen or individual
serving bowls garnished with bean stew (if using).

Serves 4-6 Preparation time is 30 mins

Cooking time: 1 hour 10 mins.

Fish Soup with Papaya and Bean curd

This soup is heavenly and nutritious both the fish and bean curd are
excellent wellsprings of protein. It is a healthy soup for all ages.
Ingredient
1whole new snakehead or threadfin (750 g/1½ lbs) ½ teaspoon oil 1½ liters
(6 cups) water ½ ready small papaya (150 g/5 oz), deseeded and cut into
pieces 1 tub (300 g/10 oz) delicate bean curd, 1 cm (½ in) new ginger root,
stripped and meagerly cut 1 teaspoon Shao Xing rice wine (optional)
Preparation

1. 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste 1 Gut and clean the fish, at that point
dried with paper towels. Fry the fish over medium heat with oil
until softly golden brown, 1-2 minutes on each side. Expel from
the heat.
2. Allow the water to boil in a stockpot. Add the papaya and bean
curd, and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Add the
ginger and fish, and keep on cooking for 10 additional minutes.
Season with the wine (if using) and salt, and remove from the
heat. Serve hot in individual serving bowls.

Serves 4 Preparation time is 15 mins. Cooking tim e: 1 hour 30 mins

Pork Soup with Water Chestnuts and Red Dates

We know red dates to be powerful in countering fatigue, anemia, and low
energy level. They are usually used to develop quality and blood, and we
frequently add it to different herbs in tonic dishes to give a naturally sweet
taste. In this recipe, join red dates with carrots, water chestnuts, and pork to
create a tasty soup that fortifies the lungs and spleen, ousts mucus, and
eases coughs.

Ingredient
2½ liters (10 cups) water, 1 large or 2 small carrots, stripped and cut 12
water chestnuts, stripped 8 red dates (hong zao), pitted and flushed 500 g (1
lb) lean pork, washed and scalded with boiling water, 1 teaspoon salt, or to
taste Bring the water to a boil in a stockpot.
Preparation
Add all the ingredients, except the salt, and cook over high heat for 20
minutes. Reduce the heat to low and stew revealed for 2 hours. Season with
the salt and expel from the heat. Serve hot in individual serving bowls.
Serves: 4. Preparation time is 30 mins. Cooking time : 2 hours 30 mins.

Tian Qi Chicken Soup

Pseudoginseng is an interesting cleanser of the blood and assists with

improving blood circulation. It has significant healing effects, eliminating
pain and eases wounds and swelling. Adults take this soup to develop skin
surface, reward the mind, and empower the body. As pseudo ginseng also
advances development, they typically serve this soup to adolescents for
development.
Ingredient
2½ liters (10 cups) water 40 g (1⅓ oz) pseudo-ginseng (tian qi), washed 1
new chicken cleaned, scalded with boiling water at that point, cut new
ginger root, 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste.
Preparation

Allow the water to boil in a stockpot. Add all the ingredients, except the
salt, and cook over high heat for 20 minutes. Diminish the heat to low and
stew revealed for 2 hours. Season with the salt and expel from the heat.
Serve hot in individual serving bowls.
Serves 4-6 Preparation time is 10 mins Cooking time : 2 hours 30 mins.

Pork Soup with Cordyceps and Fish Maw

Cordyceps is regarded to be an excellent rejuvenator, giving the best
remedy to anemia, body fluid misfortune, inordinate fatigue, and body
aches. It is also used to cleanse the immune system, lessening the aging
effects, supporting the moving life span, treating lethargy, and improving
liver capacities. In this recipe, you can join it with Wild Yam to enhance
immune reaction additionally. Exceptionally nutritious, this soup assists
with improving the overall health and is beneficial to everybody,
developing children and the old.

Ingredient
100 g (3 oz) dried cod maw, or another fish maw, washed 3 liters (12 cups)
water 500 g (1 kg) lean pork, flushed and scalded with boiling water 40 g
(1⅓ oz) Wild Yam (huai shan), flushed 10 Chinese Cordyceps (dong chong
cao), washed 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste.
Preparation

1. Boil water in a saucepan. Add the dried fish maw and cook for
about 10 minutes; spread and expel from the heat. Allow the
fish maw to soak for 3 hours, at that point evacuate, wash and
drain,
2. Allow the water to boil in a stockpot. Add all the ingredients,
aside from the salt, and cook over high heat for about 20
minutes. Lessen the heat to low and stew revealed for 2 hours.
Season with the salt and expel from the heat. Serve the soup hot
in individual serving bowls.

Serves 4-6 Preparation time is 10 mins Cooking time: 2 hours 30 mins

Sparerib and Lotus Root Soup

Codonopsis restrain fatigue, advance blood cell formation and tonify the
spleen, stomach, and lungs. Glehnia Root is used for supporting the lungs
and clearing the body heat, while Solomon’s Seal is good for healing
wounds and stomach disorders. Together, these herbs help improve the
overall body capacity, speed up the recuperation from internal wounds,
cough, and cold because of accumulated body heat. However, the
individuals who have not completely recouped from these illnesses ought to
avoid drinking this soup.
Ingredient
3 liters (12 cups) water 20 g (⅔ oz) Codonopsis Root (dang shen), washed
20 g (⅔ oz) Solomon’s Seal (yu zhu), flushed 20 g (⅔ oz) Glehnia Root
(sha shen), flushed 15 g (½ cup) dried lily bulb (bai he), flushed 1 cut dried
tangerine strip, soaked in water until delicate 300 g (10 oz) lotus roots,
stripped and thickly cut 500 g (1 lb) spareribs, washed and scalded with
boiling water, 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste.
Preparation

Bring the water to a boil in a stockpot. Add all the ingredients, aside from
the salt, and cook over high heat for 20 minutes. Decrease the heat to low
and stew revealed for 2 hours. Season with the salt and expel from the heat.
Ladle the hot soup into individual serving dishes and serve immediately.
Serves 4 Preparation time: 15 mins. Cooking time : 2 hours 30 mins

Brown Rice Mixed with Shiitake Mushroom, Peas and Tuckahoe

Tuckahoe is common in Chinese medicine for its diuretic and sedative

properties. It enables the body to eliminate overabundance fluids while
calming the sensory system. Besides, it is a tonic for the endocrine system,
advancing balanced hormone discharges. Mixture of this dish with shiitake
mushrooms, which also benefits the endocrine system and lifts immune
reaction, is great.
Ingredient
300 g (1½ cups) uncooked brown rice, 875 ml (3½ cups) water,15 g (½ oz)
Tuckahoe (fu ling) soaked in water for 60 minutes. At that point mashed
into mash 8 dried shiitake mushrooms, soak in high temp water until
delicate, stems discarded, caps cut 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of
rice wine, ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste ½ teaspoon newly ground black
pepper, 150 g (1 cup) new or solidified green peas, blanched in boiling
water for 1 moment, drained Spring onion and stew strips, to garnish.

Preparation
 1. Wash the brown rice in several changes of water until the water
runs clear, at that point drain.
2. In a pot or large saucepan, join the rice, water, herb mash,
mushroom, soy sauce, rice wine, salt, and pepper. Blend well
and heat to the point of boiling over medium heat. Lessen the
heat to low, spread, and stew until all it has absorbed the water
and cooked the rice for about 45 minutes. Expel from the heat,
mix in the green peas and serve hot in individual serving bowls,
and garnish it with spring onion and bean stew strips. Also, in
place of the green peas, you may use diced carrot, celery, or
capsicum (ringer pepper).

Serves 4 Preparation time: 15 mins + 1 hour to soak Cooking time : 50

mins

Chicken Stewed with Job’s Tears

Occupation’s Tears is an ideal example of a medicinal herb that is also a
normal food thing. Similar in appearance to pearl barley, but altogether
different, Job’s Tears has a delectable nutty flavor and a strong nutritional
profile. It eliminates dampness from the body, eases arthritis and
rheumatism, has diuretic properties, and is a nutritious food, beneficial to
various people, youthful and old alike. Cook this recipe with chicken,
mushrooms, and ginger to deliver a tasty tonic stew.

Ingredient
1 new chicken, 2½ liters (10 cups) of water, 30g (1 oz) Job’s Tears seed (yi
ren), soaked in water for the time being and drained, 5 cuts of new ginger
root, finely cleaved 300 g (10 oz) of new mushrooms (stems discarded)
caps cut, 3 spring of onions (finely diced), 1 teaspoon salt (or add salt to
taste), 2 tablespoons rice wine, ½ teaspoon of newly ground black pepper
Preparation
1. Clean and wash the chicken perfectly and cut it into reduced
down pieces. Set the chicken in a stockpot with the water, Job’s
Tears seeds and ginger, and bring to a moving boil. Lessen the
 heat to low, spread, and stew for 2 hours until the chicken is
soft.
2. Add all different ingredients and come back to a boil. Stew for 2
additional minutes and remove from heat. Scoop into individual
serving dishes and serve hot. For a hearty, nutty flavor, add a
dash of Chinese sesame oil to each serving bowl before ladling
the stew into the dishes. You may garnish each serving with
sliced coriander leaves (cilantro) or parsley.

Serves 6 Preparation time: 20 mins + overnight to soak. Cooking time: 2

hours 10 mins

Dried Longan Chicken Soup

The three tonic seeds used in this soup are Wax Privet Seed, Chinese Rasp-
berry, and Wolfberry. This combination is traditionally used to address
female menstrual disorders, improve fruitfulness, and increase male sexual
power. Dried longan adds a cardiotonic impact—fortifying heart capacities,
improving circulation, and boosting the blood. When prepared in rich
chicken stock, this tonic gives a strong lift to both male and female vitality
and reestablishes weak energy. 15 g (½ oz) Chinese Raspberry (fu pen zi),
15 g (½ oz) Wax Privet Seed (nu jen zi), 15 g (½ oz) Chinese Wolfberry
(gou qizi), 15 g (½ oz) dried longan tissue (long yan rou), 1½ liters (6 cups)
water 2 chicken wings.
Preparation
Rinse the herbs, then heat all the ingredients to the point of boiling in a
stockpot. Lessen the heat to low, spread, and stew for 2 hours. Expel from
the beat, ladle into individual serving bowls or large teacups, and serve hot.
You may eliminate the chicken wings by just boiling the 4 herbs in plain
water. The dried longan gives a sweet flavor that doesn’t require any
additional seasonings.
Serves 4-6 . Preparation time is 5 mins. Cooking time: 2 hours.

Four Herb Tonic Soup

The four tonic herbs used in this soup are Foxnut, Wild Yam, lotus seeds,
and Tuckahoe. It also incorporates Job’s Tears, which isn’t specifically a
tonic but an intense nutritional source, capable of eliminating dampness
from the body. This is a warming soup that calms the spirit and enhances
the vital energy.

Ingredient
15 g (½ oz) Job’s Tears seed (yi ren), soaked in water for the time being and
drained 15 cuts Wild Yam (huai shan), washed 10 g (⅓ oz) of Tuckahoe (fu
ling), cut into dainty slabs and flushed 10 g (⅓ oz) Foxnut (qian shi),
washed 15 g (½ oz) lotus seeds (lian zi), soak in water, for the time being,
drained 2 liters (8 cups) of water, 1 tablespoon rice wine, 3 newly cuts of
ginger root, 1½ teaspoons salt or add salt to taste.
Preparation
1. In a stockpot, heat the herbs and water to the point of boiling
over medium heat. Add all different ingredients, blend well, and
come back to a boil. Lessen the heat to low, spread the pot and
stew for about 60 minutes.
2. Expel from the heat. Serve hot in individual serving bowls,
sprinkled with a splash of rice wine if liked. For a more
extravagant and all the more fortifying soup, you may add some
boneless chicken meat, cut into 3D shapes. You may season
each serving with sliced coriander leaves (cilantro).

Serves 4-6 Preparation time: 10 mins + overnight to soak Cooking time: 1

hour 10 mins

Steamed Egg with Shiitake Mushroom

Foxnut is a traditional Chinese life span tonic known for its anti-aging and
empowering properties. This dish is joined with the nutritional value of
eggs and prawns and the immune-enhancing properties of shiitake
mushrooms. This is a warming, profoundly nutritious dish with a heavenly
mix of flavors. 1½ liters (5 cups) of chicken stock or water, 15 g (½ oz) of
Foxnut (qian shi), washed 5 new medium prawns (about 125 g/4 oz),
stripped and deveined, chopped 1 tablespoon of rice wine, 4 eggs, well
beaten 5 dried shiitake mushrooms, soak in high temp water until soft,
stems discarded, caps diced 5 new mushrooms, stems discarded, caps diced
1 onion, diced 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1½ teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of
newly ground black pepper, 1 stalk celery (minced ).
Preparation
1. Allow the chicken stock or water to a boil in a stockpot.
Diminish the heat to medium, add the Foxnut, and boil for 30-
45 minutes. Expel from the heat and strain with a cloth or fine
strainer. Hold the clear stock and discard the residue.
2. Mix the prawns with rice wine in a bowl. Put in a safe spot for
about 5 minutes and then drain.
3. Combine the egg, mushroom, onion, marinated prawns in a
heat-confirmation glass bowl. Add the salt, sugar and pepper,
then mix until well mixed. Add the clear stock and mix to blend
well. Steam for about 20 minutes until the egg is set to blend.
4. Expel from the heat and serve hot, with a sprinkling of minced
celery on top. For a more extravagant flavor, add 2 tablespoons
of softened butter to the egg blend before steaming. You may
add different vegetables, for example, green peas, chopped
carrot, boiled new corn pieces, and chopped ringer pepper
(capsicum) for additional flavor, shading, and nutritional value.
If prawns are not available, you may replace them with 1
chicken breast.

Serves 4 Preparation time is 15 minutes. Cooking time : 60 minutes.

Job’s Tears and Brown Rice Congee.

Job’s Tears has both tonic and supplement properties and loans itself to
preparing “congee” (porridge). It eliminates abundant dampness from the
body, in this way giving powerful alleviation to rheumatism and lung clog.
It also relieves stomach ulcers and gives a lift to vital energy. When joined
with brown rice, it makes a tasty congee that may be useful as a main dish
for breakfast or following a grain dish for lunch or supper. 200 g (1 cup)
uncooked brown rice, 180g (1 cup) Job’s Tears seed (yi ren), and 2 liters (8
cups) of water.
Preparation
1. Wash the brown rice two or three times and change the water
until the water runs clear and drain. Wash the Job’s tears seed.
Merge all the ingredients in a non-aluminum pot and soak for
the time being.
2. Bring all the ingredients to a full boil. Lessen the heat to low
and stew secured for 1 hour until the blend thickens. Expel from
the heat and serve either savory/sweet. To serve the congee
savory, add some salt and sesame oil to individual serving
bowls, ladle the hot congee over and mix. To serve the congee
sweet, add a little sugar, or honey or maple syrup to an
individual serving dish, ladle the hot congee over and mix.
3. Measure 4 tablespoons of wild rice and 150 g (¾ cup) of brown
rice for a more extravagant taste and extra nutritional advantage.
You can use your chicken stock instead of water to soak and
cook the congee;here, soak the herb and grain in the refrigerator
to keep the stock new. You may add chopped spring onion to
savory renditions.

Serves 4 Preparation time: 5 mins + overnight to soak Cooking time: 60

minutes

Sweet Corn Soup

This soup assists with fortifying the lungs, forestalling basic cold, and
lessening allergic symptoms, such as asthma and nasal inflammation. It
very well may be filled in like a heavenly pastry for all.
Ingredient.
750 ml (3 cups) of water, 12 g (2/5 oz) of Astragalas (huang qi), 8 g (3/10
oz) of Atractylodes (bai zhu), 4 g (1/10 oz) of Ledebouriella Root (fang
feng), 12 g (2/5 oz) Chinese Wolfberry (gou qizi), 5 pitted red dates (hong
zao), flushed 2 small pieces of margarine, 1 tablespoon of diced onion, One
418-g (14-oz) of can sweet corn, 250 ml (1 cup) of chicken stock, 2
tablespoons of chestnut flour or cornflour blended in with 2 tablespoons of
water, 1 teaspoon of salt (add salt to taste)
Preparation
1. Allow the remaining water to boil in a saucepan. Add all the
herbs and cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Lessen the heat to
low and stew revealed until the stock diminishes to about 250
ml (1 cup). Strain and hold the stock. Discard the residue.
2. Melt the margarine with a medium heat in a saucepan. Sautéed
food the onion until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes, then pour in the
stock, sweet corn, and chicken stock. Heat the blend to the
boiling point and mix in the chestnut and corn flour, then blend
to thicken the soup. Season with the salt and expel from the
heat. Serve immediately. Serves 4-6 Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time : 35 mins.

Black Chicken Tonic with Red Dates

Black chicken is a traditional Chinese tonic food frequently served to ladies
after labor to reestablish their vitality and advance the blood. It is also a
tonic food for everybody. In this recipe, you can join it with red dates and
dried longan tissue, which further lifts the blood-building and empowering
properties of the black chicken. The sesame oil with warming properties
adds a nutritional value to the dish.
Ingredients
1 new black chicken or 4 black chicken legs, 10 dried longan substance
(long yan rou), washed 6 pitted red dates (hong zoo), flushed 2 spring
onions, cut into lengths 1 stalk celery, cut into lengths 6 cuts new ginger
root, 1 tablespoon of chopped coriander leaves (cilantro), to garnish
add Sauce 5 tablespoons rice wine, 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, 3 tablespoons
of sesame oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1½ teaspoons of
newly ground black pepper.
Preparation.

1. Cut the chicken into serving pieces, then wash very well.
2. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a blending bowl and blend
well. Add the chicken pieces and blend until well coated.
Arrange the herbs on the head of the chicken pieces, and place
the spring onion, celery and ginger in the middle of the herbs.
3. Spread the bowl firmly with aluminum foil and leave to
marinate for about 30 minutes. Place in a steamer or frying pan
and steam over boiling water for 60 minutes. Expel from the
heat, take off the foil, sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves on
top and serve hot. If black chicken isn’t available, you may sub
the unfenced chicken.

Serves 4 Preparation time: 20 mins + 30 mins to marinate Cooking time:

60 minutes

Chicken Stewed with Job’s Tears

Job’s Tears is an ideal example of a medicinal herb that is also a normal
food thing. Similar in appearance to pearl barley, but altogether different,
Job’s Tears has a tasty nutty flavor and a powerful nutritional profile. It
eliminates dampness from the body, eases arthritis and rheumatism, has
diuretic properties, and is a nutritious food beneficial to the two people,
youthful and old alike.Cook this recipe with chicken, mushrooms, and
ginger to deliver a tasty tonic stew.
Ingredients
1 new chicken, 2½ liters (10 cups) of water, 30 g (1 oz) of Job’s Tears seed
(yi ren), soaked in water for the time being and drained, 5 cuts of new
ginger root (finely chopped), 3 spring of onions (finely chopped), 300 g (10
oz) of new mushrooms, stems discarded (caps cut), 2 tablespoons of rice
wine, 1 teaspoon of salt (or add salt to taste), ½ teaspoon of newly ground
black pepper.
Preparation
 1. Cut the chicken into scaled-down pieces, then wash perfectly.
Place the chicken in a cooking pot with the water, Job’s Tears
seeds and ginger, and bring to a moving boil. Reduce the heat to
low, spread, and stew for 2 hours until the chicken is soft.
2. Add all different ingredients and come back to a boil. Stew for 2
additional minutes and expel from the heat. Scoop into
individual serving bowls and serve hot. For a powerful, nutty
flavor, add a dash of Chinese sesame oil to each serving bowl
before ladling the stew into the dishes. You can also garnish
with chopped coriander leaves (cilantro) or parsley.

Serves 6 Preparation time: 20 mins + overnight to soak Cooking time : 2

hours 10 mins
1. In a saucepan, heat the herb and water to the point of boiling.
Lessen the heat to low, spread, and stew for 45 minutes. Expel
from the heat and strain. Save the clear stock and discard the
residue.
2. Cut the chicken breast into 3D squares, place in a bowl, and
blend well in with the soy sauce. Put in a safe spot.
3. Heat the sesame oil in a cooking pot over high heat. Pan-fried
food the chicken until it changes shading, 3—4 minutes. Add
the bean curd and, using a spatula, break it into small pieces.
Pan-fried food the blend for 2 additional minutes, then mix in
the mushroom, carrot and green peas, then garnish with the
wine and salt. Pour in the herbal stock, diminish the heat to
medium and stew secured for 20-30 minutes. Expel from the
heat and serve immediately, garnished with chopped spring
onion. For a stronger flavor, you may also add chopped garlic
along with the carrot and mushroom. You may also prepare this
dish with dried shrimp already soaked and drained instead of
chicken. Serves 4 Preparation time: 30 mins + 30 mins to
soak Cooking time: 1 hour 30 mins

Pigeon Egg White Fungus Soup

White fungus and pigeon eggs are a traditional tonic mix used to reestablish
vital energy after illness or medical procedure, increase vitality in the older,
fortify the body, and tonify yin energy throughout the human system. It is
an excellent restorative for general weakness and physical deficiency.
Ingredients
1 or 2 florets dried white organism (bai mu er), soaked in water until soft,
drained and hard center cut 1 bundle (15 g/½ oz) of coriander leaves
(cilantro), leaves just 15 pigeon of eggs, 500 ml (2 cups) of chicken stock or
water, 2 tablespoons of rice wine, 1 teaspoon of salt or add salt to taste.
Preparation
1. Puree the white growth and coriander leaves until smooth in a
blender or food processor. Beat the pigeon eggs well, then add
to the purée and blend until well mixed. Put in a safe spot.
2. Allow the water or chicken stock to boil in a saucepan. Add the
egg blend and blend well. Mix in the wine and add salt, stew
revealed for about 2 minutes and expelled from the heat. Serve
immediately in a soup tureen or individual serving bowls.
Serves 4-6 Preparation time: 10 mins + 10 mins to soak
Cooking time : 2 hours

Four Herb Tonic Soup

The four tonic herbs used in this soup are Foxnut, Wild Yam, lotus seeds,
and Tuckahoe. It also incorporates Job’s Tears, which isn’t specifically a
tonic but an intense nutritional source, capable of eliminating dampness
from the body. This is a warming soup that calms the spirit and enhances
the vital energy.
Ingredients
15g (½ oz) of Job’s Tears seed (yi ren), soaked in water for the time being
and drained, 15 cuts of Wild Yam (huai shan), washed 10 g (⅓ oz) of
Tuckahoe (fu ling) cut into slim slabs and flushed, 10 g (⅓ oz) of Foxnut
(qian shi), washed 15 g (½ oz) of lotus seeds (lian zi), soaked in water, for
the time being, drained 2 liters (8 cups) of water, 1 tablespoon of rice wine,
3 cuts new ginger root, 1½ teaspoons of salt or add to taste.
Preparation
In a cooking pot, heat the herbs and water to the point of boiling over
medium heat. Add all different ingredients, blend well, and come back to a
boil. Lessen the heat to low, spread the pot and stew for about 60 minutes.
Expel from the heat. Serve hot in individual serving bowls, sprinkled with a
splash of rice wine if liked. For a more extravagant and all the more
fortifying soup, you may add some boneless chicken meat, cut into solid
shapes. You can garnish the food with sliced coriander leaves (cilantro).
Serves 4-6 Preparation time: 10 mins + overnight to soak Cooking time: 1
hour 10 mins

Steamed Egg with Shiitake Mushroom

Foxnut is a traditional Chinese life span tonic known for its anti-aging and
stimulating properties. Join this dish with the nutritional value of eggs and
prawns and the immune-enhancing properties of shiitake mushrooms. This
is a warming, profoundly nutritious dish with a tasty mix of flavors.
Ingredients
1½ liters (5 cups) of chicken stock or water, 15 g (½ oz) of Foxnut (qian
shi), washed 5 new medium prawns (about 125 g/4 oz), stripped and de-
veined, at that point chopped 1 tablespoon of rice wine, 4 eggs, well beaten
5 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in heated water until delicate, stems
discarded, caps diced 5 new mushrooms, stems discarded, caps diced 1
onion, diced 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1½ teaspoons of salt teaspoon newly
ground black pepper 1 stalk celery, minced.
Preparation
1. Allow the chicken stock or water to a boil in a stock-pot.
Reduce the heat to medium, add the Foxnut, and boil for 30-45
minutes. Expel from the heat and strain with a cloth or fine
sieve. Hold the clear stock and discard the leftovers.
 2. Mix the prawns with rice wine in a bowl. Put in a safe spot for
about 5 minutes, at that point drain.
3. Combine the egg, mushroom, onion, marinated prawns in a
heat-confirmation glass dish. Add pepper, sugar, and salt, and
mix until well mixed. Add the clear stock and mix to blend well.
Steam for about 20 minutes until the egg blend gets set.
4. Expel from the heat and serve hot, with a sprinkling of minced
celery on top. For a more extravagant flavor, add 2 tablespoons
of dissolved butter to the egg blend before steaming. You can
add different vegetables, such as green peas, chopped carrot,
boiled new corn parts, and chopped chime pepper (capsicum)
for additional flavor, shading, and nutritional value. If prawns
are not available, you may replace them with 1 chicken
breast. Serves 4 Preparation time is 15 mins Cooking time : 60
minutes

Braised Sesame Beef

We well know braised Sesame Beef with Fennel as a stomach-related tonic

that enhances the spleen and stomach elements. It also benefits the liver and
kidneys and has an overall warming impact on the entire stomach related
system. In this recipe, join it with a hamburger which also has warming
properties and increases quality and stamina.
Ingredient
100 g (3 oz) of white sesame seeds (bai zhi ma), 500g (1 lb) of meat
tenderloin, cut into 3-cm (1-in) 3D squares, 15 g (½ oz) of fennel (xiao hui
xiang), 2 tablespoons of butter or oil, 250 ml (1 cup) of water, 1 teaspoon of
sugar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of rice wine.
Preparation.
1. Dry-fry the sesame seeds in a skillet over medium-low heat
until golden brown and crackle. Expel from the heat and pound
to a powder in a mortar or flavor processor. Transfer to a plate.
 Roll the hamburger blocks in the sesame powder until well
coated and leave to stand for 1-2 hours.
2. In the same skillet, dry-fry the fennel over medium-low heat
until fragrant. Expel from the heat and granulate to a fine
powder in a mortar or zest processor.
3. Heat the butter or oil in a wok over medium heat until hot but
not smoking. Pan-fried food the coated hamburger for about 30
seconds and pour in the water and heat to the point of boiling.
Season with the sugar, soy sauce, and rice wine, lessen the heat
to low, and stew secured for about 30 minutes. Expel from the
heat and transfer to a serving bowl.
4. Add the ground fennel to the meat, blend well, and serve
immediately. One may also prepare this dish with lamb, but not
pork, chopped coriander leaves (cilantro) or you may sprinkle
spring onion on top as a garnish.

Serves 4 Preparation time: 20 mins + 2 hours to stand Cooking time : 40

mins

Sweet Corn Soup

This soup assists with reinforcing the lungs along these lines forestalling
normal cold and lessens allergic symptoms, for example, asthma and nasal
inflammation. You may fill it in like a heavenly sweet for all.
Ingredients.
750 ml (3 cups) of water, 12 g (2/5 oz) of Astragalus (huang qi), 8 g (3/10
oz) of Atractylodes (bai zhu), 4 g (1/10 oz) of Ledebouriella Root (fang
feng), 12 g (2/5 oz) Chinese Wolfberry (gou qizi), 5 pitted red dates (hong
zao), washed 2 small lumps margarine 1 tablespoon of diced onion, One
418-g (14-oz) of can sweet corn, 250 ml (1 cup) of chicken stock, 2
tablespoons of chestnut flour or cornflour, blended in with 2 tablespoons of
water and 1 teaspoon of salt, or add the salt to taste.
Preparation.
 1. Boil water in a saucepan. Add all the herbs, cover it and allow
to cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Decrease the heat to low
and stew revealed until the stock diminishes to about 250 ml (1
cup). Strain and hold the stock. Discard the leftovers.
2. Heat the margarine over medium heat in a saucepan. Sautéed
food the onion until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes, then pour in the
stock, sweet corn, and chicken stock. Heat the blend then allow
to boiling and mix in the chestnut and cornflour blend to thicken
the soup.
3. Season with the salt and expel from the heat.

Serve immediately. Serves 4-6 Preparation time: 15 mins Cooking time: 35

mins

Eight-treasure Vegetarian Soup

This is a popular sweet herbal blend for all the chestnuts add pleasantness,
the mushrooms and ginkgo nuts give completion while the white parasite
adds a crunchy note. You can serve it hot or cold.
Ingredient
3 liters (12 cups) of water, 1-piece of tangerine strip (Chen pi), washed 2
florets of dried white parasite (bai mu er), soaked until soft, hard center cut
50 g (2 oz) of gingko nuts (bai guo), shelled and stripped of 5 dried figs (wu
hua guo), flushed 8 pitted red dates (hong zao), washed 8 dried shiitake
mushrooms, soaked until tender, stems expelled 12 dried shelled chestnuts
(mi zao), flushed 40g (⅓ cup) of lotus seeds (lian zi), soaked for the time
being 4 tablespoons of Foxnuts (qian shi), flushed 1 teaspoon of salt, or add
to taste.
Preparation
1. Bring the water and tangerine strip to a boil in a stock-pot. Add
all different ingredients, aside from the salt, and cook over high
heat for 10 minutes.
 2. Lessen the heat to low and stew revealed for 2 hours. Season
with the salt and expel from the heat. Serve hot or chilled in
individual serving bowls.

Serves 6-8 Preparation time is 30 mins Cooking time: 2 hours 15 mins.

White Fungus, Lotus Root, and Red Dates Boiled with Rock Sugar
This is a fortifying tonic pastry soup that may be served either as a sweet
course or as a tonic snack of the day. The three key ingredients merge to
balance the blood, enhance general vitality, and reestablish the body from a
state of fatigue or weakness.

Ingredients.
1½ liters (6 cups) of water, 80g (½ cup) of squashed stone sugar, 2 florets of
dried white growth (bai mu er), soaked in water until delicate, hard center
cut and coarsely chopped 12 pitted of red dates (hong zao), washed 300g
(10 oz) lotus roots, stripped and daintily cut.
Preparation
1. In a stockpot, heat the water and sugar to the boiling point of
boiling that point add the white organism, red dates and lotus
root. Diminish the heat to low, spread, and stew for 60 minutes.
2. Expel from the heat, serve warm in a soup tureen or individual
serving bowls. For additional flavor, you may add a split of
vanilla bean to the soup while cooking, or add 1 tablespoon of
vanilla extract at the finish of cooking, preceding serving, but
don’t use any different flavors all together not to meddle with
the therapeutic advantages.You may also prepare this soup with
soaked lotus seeds instead of or in addition to roots. Endeavour
to serve it warm for ideal therapeutic effects.

Note; You may also prepare this soup with soaked lotus seeds instead of or
in addition to roots. Serve it warm for ideal therapeutic impacts.
Serves: 4-6. Preparation time: 15 mins + 15 mins to soak Cooking time: 1
hour 5 mins

Pears Steamed with Fritillaria Bulbs

Fritillaria clears blockage from the lungs, while pears have a tonifying
impact on lung energy. Pears also saturate the body, advance discharges of
vital fluids, and has a cooling effect on the body system. This tasty sweet is,
in this way, an excellent solution for clogged lungs, dryness in the
respiratory system, and over-heated chests.
Ingredients.
4 large or 8 small entire new green pears or Chinese pears, with skin on,
halved 2 teaspoons (5 g) of Fritillaria (bei mu), flushed 1 tablespoon of
squashed stone sugar or honey 250 ml (1 cup) water.
Preparation
1. Place the pears with the herb in a heat-confirmation dish and
add the sugar or honey and water. Steam in a steamer or a wok
over boiling water for about 60 minutes.
2. Expel from the heat. Transfer to an individual serving bowl and
ladle equal amounts of syrup over. Serve hot. You may also add
1 stick cinnamon and 8 cloves for additional flavor and
warming advantages in winter. You may also add one
tablespoon of brandy or rum along with the water to enhance the
taste additionally.

Serves : 4-6 Preparation time is 5 mins. Cooking time : 60 minutes.

Black Sesame Seed Drink

Black sesame seeds are sweet, and they contain neutral properties. They
tonify the blood, dampen the digestion tracts, and advance solid discharges.
They are good to address constipation, improve dry skin, reinforce the hair,
and delay graying of hair. This beverage, when devouring much of the time,
makes one healthy and beautiful. However, one must avoid it when having
diarrhea.
Ingredients
3 teaspoons of black sesame seeds (hei zhi ma), 2 teaspoons of honey, and
250 ml (1 cup) of warm water
Preparation
Join all the ingredients and blend well. Serve immediately. Serves 1
Preparation time: 5 mins
 CONCLUSION

C hinese medicine herbs are increasingly used to treat diseases, and a

significant number of clinical examinations have been led. However,
Chinese medicine is of significant value. Discoveries from clinical proof
revealed the promising advantage of oral and topical Chinese herbal
medicine. Finishing the herbs, recipes, and other information’s given book
will be of enormous advantage to Health because Health is wealth.