In the development of traditional Chinese medicine, there is no special mention of the term shelf life. The ancients believed that there was no strict requirement for the shelf life of traditional Chinese medicine. We can't say that the quality of medicinal materials stored for one or two years will be worse than that of fresh medicinal materials. On the contrary, there are many medicinal materials in Chinese medicine. Chen Fang? These requirements, like wine in a cellar, are always there, and the older they get, the more fragrant they get.
1. Some Chinese herbal medicines have no strict shelf life.
Chinese herbal medicine comes from all things in nature, such as roots, leaves, flowers, fruits, animals, minerals and so on. Therefore, as long as the storage environment is suitable and the maintenance is reasonable, Chinese herbal medicines can be stored for a long time.
For example, minerals are hard in texture and stable in composition, and the effective components will not change significantly after five years. The same is true of some medicinal materials such as roots, fruits and seeds. As long as the storage temperature and humidity are reasonable and are not polluted and deteriorated, it can be stored for a long time. There have been news reports that people found that the lotus seeds left thousands of years ago actually survived after planting. The heart and pulp of lotus seeds can be used as medicinal materials. As long as the general medicinal materials are properly preserved, there is no strict requirement on the preservation time.
2. Medicinal materials containing volatile, oily and sugar components should not be stored for a long time.
The components of some medicinal materials are not very stable, and long-term storage will cause volatile loss and oxidative decomposition of effective components. Therefore, in the storage of traditional Chinese medicine, people often think that stems, leaves, flowers and other general medicinal materials can be stored for up to two years, seeds of woody fruits can be stored for up to four years, and minerals can not be stored for up to ten years. Of course, this is just the experience of general medicinal materials storage.
These medicinal materials containing volatile, oily and sugar components will reduce their efficacy to some extent after long-term storage. For example, some mosaic roses, safflower, Schizonepeta, perilla leaves and so on. , Platycladus orientalis, peach kernel, angelica, Achyranthes bidentata, asparagus, etc. , it will volatilize and lose the oil of effective components for a long time, affecting the quality of medicinal materials.
3. Medicinal materials with special requirements need Chen Fang.
Although most Chinese medicinal materials are not suitable for long-term preservation, some special medicinal materials are different. After thousands of years of experience, the ancients thought that some medicinal materials could not only be preserved for a long time, but even get better with age.
Chenpi is a famous Chinese medicine. There is a saying in Chinese medicine called? One or two pieces of orange peel and one or two pieces of gold. A century-old orange peel is better than gold? It means that the longer the dried tangerine peel is stored, the higher its value. The dried tangerine peel on the market now is generally short, and it will be fine in five or six years. High-quality dried tangerine peel needs to be fermented for decades.
In addition, there are some medicinal materials, such as ephedra, Pinellia ternata, Fructus Aurantii, Stellera chamaejasme, Evodia rutaecarpa, etc., which are clearly stated in the theory of traditional Chinese medicine. The longer they are stored, the better. Of course, the premise is that these medicinal materials should not be moth-eaten and moldy, and they should be well maintained.
4. The fried medicine should be taken on the same day.
Unlike dried raw herbs, decocted herbs are generally not recommended to be placed, and it is best to take them while they are hot. Therefore, the ancients generally decocted the medicinal materials while they were hot, so as to exert the best curative effect.
At present, many people choose traditional Chinese medicine instead of decoction for convenience, and it is not advisable to boil the liquid medicine for a week or even longer at a time, because once the effective components of traditional Chinese medicine are extracted, they will become extremely unstable, and various complex components will easily change when mixed together, or their volatilization, decomposition and oxidation are unknown, which will affect the efficacy to a certain extent.
Moreover, Chinese medicine will not be sterilized after being boiled, and bacteria and viruses in the natural environment can easily breed in the liquid medicine. If you drink the deteriorated and polluted Chinese medicine, I am afraid it will not only cure the disease, but also damage your health.