The efficacy and consumption methods of bitter radish

Kumar is one of the varieties differentiated from leek during thousands of years of cultivation. The ancients believed that eating kumar can prolong life and compared it to the Ganoderma lucidum among vegetables. It can be said that dishes made with bitter radish are authentic medicinal foods. So what are its effects and how to eat it? Let’s take a look together.

1. Efficacy

1. Nourish your heart . Kumar can warm the heart yang, dredge blood vessels, lower blood lipids, and prevent arteriosclerosis. It is an excellent food therapy for treating heart disease. For people with poor heart function, or those who usually feel chest tightness or pain in the heart area, eating bitter radish often can be very helpful, as it can prevent coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, and even myocardial infarction.

2. Strengthen the stomach and treat gastritis and stomach pain. It is especially effective for treating stomach fullness, abdominal bloating, etc due to stagnation of cold and dampness in the stomach and intestines.

3. Prolong life ; lower blood lipids and lose weight; prevent osteoporosis; reduce inflammation and antibacterial, enhance human immunity; antioxidant effect, can detoxify and purify the blood; nourish the heart.

From Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Su Dongpo to Lu You, they all loved to eat it and left poems praising it. Zhang Lei, a disciple of Su Dongpo, was very knowledgeable about health preservation and was the author of the famous "Notes on Congee". He also highly praised the health benefits of leek and even planted hundreds of leek plants at home. A poem he wrote particularly represents the ancients' understanding of leek: Leek fruit is the most delicious of vegetables, and is loved by immortals and sages. Light body but strong bones, yet old and upright.

2. How to eat for different groups of people

1. Sour and bitter garlic - for those who need gastrointestinal health care

Bitter garlic is suitable for making sour salted pickles. People with weak stomachs and intestines who are prone to stomachaches, enteritis, and indigestion should soak a bottle of bitter radish and eat a few of them every day, and their stomachs and intestines will gradually be adjusted.

2. Pork belly stewed with bitter radish – for pregnant women

The bitter taste of bitter radish has the effect of lowering qi, and meat has the effect of replenishing qi. Bitter radish removes the greasiness of meat, and meat neutralizes the medicinal properties of bitter radish.

Stewed pork tripe with bitter radish has the effect of nourishing the stomach, and can also be eaten by people with weak spleen and stomach.

3. Fried broad beans with bitter garlic leaves can strengthen the spleen and eliminate dampness

Fresh bitter garlic leaves can also be eaten, which has the effect of regulating qi.

Fried radish leaves with fresh broad beans is the best combination. Eating too many broad beans can easily cause gas stagnation. Eating them with bitter radish leaves can help relieve the gas.