What is the method of concentrating traditional Chinese medicine?

It is a known fact that Chinese medicine can cure many diseases. However, compared with Western medicine, except for Chinese patent medicine, some Chinese medicine needs to be boiled and concentrated so that it can exert better therapeutic effects. However, many friends are not professionals, and they don’t know how to boil or concentrate the Chinese medicine they buy. So the question is, what is the method of concentrating Chinese medicine?

(1) Container selection: casserole, enamel pot, stainless steel pot. A casserole or enamel pot is best. If you don’t have one, a stainless steel pot will do, but be careful not to use an iron pot. Nowadays, there are also Chinese medicine pots specifically used for decocting medicine, and the effect is also very good.

(2) Place the herbs in a container and add clean water to soak them. Generally, the water level should be 3-5 cm above the herbs, but a little more is fine. Use warm water to soak medicine. In summer, ordinary tap water can be used. In winter, boiled water can be mixed with tap water to make warm water. When soaking the medicine in warm water, the time can be shorter, generally half an hour is enough. The purpose of soaking medicine is to moisten the dry medicinal materials to facilitate the analysis of the medicinal components. So if you want to keep it simple, you can also add tap water directly to the medicinal materials, and then put them directly on the stove and start to simmer slowly with the lowest fire, soaking and frying at the same time.

(3) After boiling, turn to low heat to decoct the medicine (if you use low heat from the beginning, there is no need to reduce the heat, but be sure to record the starting time). Please note: All medicines for treating head, chest or skin diseases generally only need to be decocted for 5 to 10 minutes. Chinese medicine believes that this is to extract the "light and clear qi" of the medicine, so that the medicine can reach the treatment area and produce effects. All medicines for treating spleen and stomach diseases must be decocted for about half an hour; all medicines for treating diseases of the lower part of the human body such as the kidneys and waist should be decocted for more than 40 minutes to extract the "heavy and turbid qi" of the medicine and go directly to the diseased area.

(4) After the medicine is boiled, let it cool slightly and pour out the medicine when the pot is not too hot. If you find that the amount is too much, such as a large bowl, and it is difficult to finish it in one breath, pour the medicine back and boil it again, using the highest fire to quickly evaporate the water in the medicine. When it is estimated that the excess water has almost evaporated, turn off the fire and pour out the medicine again. Next time you fry it, be sure to reduce the amount of water. Leave it at room temperature until it tastes mild, then drink it all in one go. Generally, the amount of liquid medicine taken at one time is about 100 ml. Some people don't care about anything and when they have boiled a large bowl of medicine, they don't know how to handle it and just force themselves to drink it. Not only is it very uncomfortable when drinking, but too much medicine in the stomach will affect normal diet. Therefore, you must pay attention to concentrating the medicine and don't drink too much at one time.