With people's attention to health preservation, more and more people use Chinese medicine to regulate their bodies. However, cooking Chinese medicine is a science. You can't just find an iron pot to make do with it. You need a special pot. There are certain requirements for water, soaking, temperature, time, times and methods. If you don't master the method correctly, the boiled medicine may not play an effective role. The following is the cooking method of traditional Chinese medicine I brought to you. Welcome to reading.

First, decocting instruments

Casseroles and jars in ceramic utensils are better, because their chemical properties are stable, they are not easy to react with pharmaceutical ingredients, and they have uniform heat conduction and good warmth retention. Secondly, white enamel ware or stainless steel pot can be used. Avoid using metal appliances such as copper, iron and aluminum. Because metal elements are easy to react with traditional Chinese medicine components in the liquid medicine, it may reduce the curative effect and even produce toxic and side effects.

Second, decoction.

In ancient times, it was boiled with long running water, well water, rainwater, spring water and rice swill. Tap water, well water, distilled water and so on. Are commonly used, but generally speaking, clean and fresh water is better.

Third, soak before frying.

Soaking the decoction pieces before decoction is not only beneficial to the full dissolution of effective components, but also can shorten the decoction time and avoid the loss and destruction of some effective components caused by too long decoction time. Most drugs should be soaked in cold water. Generally, drugs can be soaked for 20 ~ 30 minutes, and seeds and fruits can be soaked for 1 hour. The temperature is high in summer, so the soaking time should not be too long to avoid deterioration.

Fourth, water consumption.

The water consumption of general drugs after proper pressurization is about 2 cm. The water consumption of hard, sticky or long-term decoction drugs is slightly higher than that of general drugs; Drugs with loose texture, or drugs with volatile active ingredients and short decocting time, can be submerged in the liquid surface.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) boiling duration

The cooking time can be divided into slow fire and fierce fire. Slow fire refers to the temperature rise and slow evaporation of water and liquid; Violent fire, also known as sudden fire, refers to the rapid evaporation of water and liquid as the temperature rises. Generally, drugs should be decocted with strong fire first, and then with slow fire, that is, decocted with strong fire first, and then with slow fire after boiling, so as to keep it slightly boiling, so as to avoid overflowing or boiling too fast. Aromatic drugs such as exterior-relieving drugs are generally cooked quickly with strong fire, and then decocted with slow fire 10 ~ 15 minutes. Minerals, bone horns, crustaceans and tonics whose effective components are difficult to decoct generally need to be decocted slowly with slow fire for a long time, and then boiled for 30-60 minutes to dissolve the effective components.

Squeeze the residue to get juice. After decocting in water, squeeze the residue to get juice. Because general drugs will absorb a certain amount of liquid medicine after being boiled in water. Secondly, the effective components dissolved in the liquid medicine may be reabsorbed by the residue. If the residue is discarded without squeezing the juice, it will cause the loss of effective components. In particular, some drugs that are easy to lose or destroy active ingredients when exposed to high heat should not be decocted for a long time or decocted for a second time. The proportion of active ingredients in the residue will be greater, and the significance of extracting juice from the residue will be even greater.

Six, decocting times

Generally speaking, a dose of medicine can be decocted three times, at least twice. Because when decocting, the effective components of the medicine will first dissolve in the aqueous solution that enters the tissue of the medicinal material, and then diffuse into the aqueous solution outside the medicinal material, when the concentration of the internal and external solutions of the medicinal material reaches balance, the effective components will no longer dissolve out due to osmotic pressure balance. At this time, only by filtering out the liquid medicine and decocting it with water can the effective components continue to be dissolved out. In order to make full use of medicinal materials and avoid waste, it is best to fry them for 2 ~ 3 times in one dose.

Seven, the method of medication

General drugs can be decocted at the same time, but some drugs have different decocting time and method because of their different texture, nature and clinical use. The decocting method is special and needs to be indicated in the prescription. To sum up, they include different decocting methods, such as decocting first, then decocting, decocting, soaking, taking, and decocting soup instead of water.

1 fry first. Mainly refers to some effective ingredients insoluble in water, such as stones, minerals and crustaceans, which should be crushed first, then boiled for 20 ~ 30 minutes, and then boiled with other drugs to fully precipitate the effective ingredients. Such as magnet, ochre, pig iron drop, gypsum, keel, oyster, clam shell, mother-of-pearl, concha Haliotidis, purple shell tooth, tortoise shell and turtle shell. Because of their strong toxicity, drugs such as Radix Aconiti and Radix Aconiti Lateralis can be reduced after long-term decoction, and should also be decocted before use to ensure the safety of medication.

2 recite it. Some fragrant medicines have been decocted for a long time, and the volatilization of effective components is reduced. You must wait for other medicines to boil for 5 ~ 10 minutes before putting them in. Such as mint, Artemisia annua, Elsholtzia, Radix Aucklandiae, Fructus Amomi, Fructus Amomi, Fructus Amomi Rotundus, Fructus Amomi Rotundus, etc. In addition, although some drugs are not aromatic drugs, long-term decoction will also destroy their effective components, such as Uncaria, rhubarb, Senna and so on.

3 treasure. Mainly refers to those drugs with strong viscosity, powder and fluff, which should be wrapped in gauze first, and then decocted with other drugs to prevent irritation to the throat or turbid liquid medicine, causing cough, sinking into the bottom of the pot and causing coking or gelatinization when heated. Such as clam powder, talc, indigo naturalis, Flos Magnoliae, Inula, Semen Plantaginis, Pollen Typhae, kitchen soil, etc.

4 fry separately. Also known as another stew, it refers to some precious medicinal materials. In order to better decoct the effective components, they should be decocted for 2 ~ 3 hours respectively, and the decoction can be taken alone or mixed with other decoctions. Such as ginseng, American ginseng, antelope horn, velvet antler, tiger bone and so on.

(5) melting. Also known as melting, it mainly refers to some colloid drugs and drugs with high viscosity and easy dissolution. In order to avoid the influence of boiling or adhering to other drugs in a frying pan, these drugs can be heated and melted with water or yellow wine, and then taken together with the decocted liquid medicine, or taken after being heated and melted in other decocted liquid medicine, such as colla corii asini, colla cornus Cervi, colla Plastri Testudinis, tiger bone glue, honey and maltose.

6 soak clothes. Also known as drying clothes, it mainly refers to some drugs whose active ingredients are easily soluble in water or easily destroy their efficacy after long-term decoction. They can be soaked in a small amount of boiling water or with the decoction of other drugs in the compound, covered with stuffy clothes to reduce volatilization, and can be taken after half an hour, such as saffron, senna, boat-fruited Sterculia, etc.

⑦ Take it. Refers to some expensive drugs, the dosage is light. In order to prevent loss, it is often necessary to grind them into fine powder, make them into powder, and decoct them with warm water or other medicines, such as bezoar, pearl, antelope horn, monkey date, Ma Bao, American ginseng, pilose antler, ginseng, gecko, etc. Some drugs are often ground into powder for oral administration according to the needs of illness, such as Notoginseng Radix, Bletilla striata, Liline, Scolopendra, Scorpio, Bombyx Batryticatus, Lumbricus, cuttlefish bone, Rhizoma Corydalis, etc. Some drugs, such as Wan Lei, grass bud, cinnabar, etc. It is easy to destroy its efficacy at high temperature or its effective components are insoluble in water. In addition, there are some liquid drugs, such as bamboo juice, ginger juice, lotus root juice, water chestnut juice, rehmannia juice and so on, which must be taken orally.

8 decoct soup instead of water. Mainly refers to some drugs in order to prevent the turbid soup, it is difficult to take with other drugs, so it is advisable to take supernatant instead of water before decocting other drugs, such as heart soil. In addition, some medicinal materials with light weight, large volume and large water absorption, such as corn stigma, loofah sponge and Lysimachia christinae, must also be decocted in water.

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