In addition, prescriptions containing precious fine materials or volatile drugs such as bezoar, musk, borneol and storax are often made into honeyed pills. Generally, pills weighing more than 0.5 grams are called honey pills, and those weighing less than 0.5 grams are called honey pills.
manufacturing process
Hand-made honey pills of traditional Chinese medicine, the main process is as follows:
1. Formulation and milling: After drying or sun-drying, the medicine prepared according to the formulation is ground into fine powder by a milling machine, put into a sterile basin for later use, and then granulated.
2. Preparation of honey: the preparation of honey is to prepare honey according to the weight of medicinal powder in the ratio of 1: 1.2 ~ 1.5 (for example,1000g of medicinal powder1200 ~1500g of honey; If there is more sugar, gum or starch in the medicinal materials, it can be prepared according to the ratio of 1: 1 ~ 1.2).
3, honey refining: honey refining is honey refining, its purpose is to remove impurities, destroy enzymes, kill bacteria, evaporate water, and enhance viscosity.
When refining honey, first boil the honey with strong fire, then slowly boil it with slow fire, and at the same time put a bowl of cold water beside it, and pay attention to observe the color of the honey. When the honey turns Huang Shi, dip a drop of honey with bamboo chopsticks, then move the bamboo chopsticks above the cold water bowl and let the honey drop into the water. If honey doesn't disperse in water and sink to the bottom, that is, "dripping into beads", it is refined (if honey is not cooked, it can't be made into pills, of course, it is not good to cook too much).
There are three kinds of refined honey, namely tender honey, medium honey and old honey:
"Tender honey" is made by boiling raw honey until the temperature reaches 105℃ ~ 1 15℃ and filtering to remove foam. Its color change is not obvious, it loses less water and is slightly sticky. It is suitable for making pills from starch, mucus, sugar, fat and other viscous medicinal materials.
"Medium honey" refers to white silk or tender honey that is boiled for a long time and heated to116℃ ~118℃. The foam is reddish, and it is sticky by hand, but it cannot be stretched. Suitable for making pills with some viscosity or some fibers.
"Old honey" means that raw honey is heated for a longer time or tender honey and medium honey are heated to 1 19℃ ~ 122℃, so that the water is fully evaporated, the bubbles are reddish brown and shiny, and white filaments can be drawn. Suitable for making pills with a large number of fibrous or mineral medicinal materials, with poor viscosity.
Most honey pills use medium honey, and 1000 grams of honey can produce about 800 grams of refined honey; 1000 grams of Chinese medicine powder, about 1200 grams of honey.
4. Mix medicine with medicine: pour the cooked honey into the powder in the disinfection basin with a spoon, and at the same time stir it with thick bamboo chopsticks, just like adding water and flour before wrapping jiaozi. Mix the powder while pouring honey, and stop adding honey when the dry powder is basically invisible (be careful not to add too much, because too much honey is not easy to form pills).
If you don't have a good grasp of the total amount of honey at first, adjusting honey at this time can be remedied according to the dry humidity of the powder. After mixing, put the medicine and honey into a disinfection basin and knead them into a ball.
5. Rubbing pills: In order to prevent the pills from sticking to hands or utensils, a small amount of glycerin, sesame oil or peanut oil can be rubbed in the palm of your hand, which is not only difficult to stick, but also makes the pills smooth and bright.
If each pill weighs 10g and one medicine weighs 3000g, 300 pills will be made. The blended pill can be divided into three pieces, and each piece can be divided into five small pieces. After rubbing, each lump can be cut into 20 sections, and each section can be rubbed with a pill. The rest are allowed.
6. Packaging and storage: The honeyed pill has a round and smooth appearance, a dense and moist surface, and no visible fibers or other colored spots. When the pills sweat hard, wrap them in wax paper, plastic wrap, plastic bag or wax shell and store them in a cool and dry place.