The real function of these condiments is that they can be used as medicine to regulate the body!

Condiments refer to a type of food used to adjust the flavor of staple foods and dishes. Experts have put forward a new concept: "Seasonings are also medicine." In this regard, as stated in the science of food compatibility: "The main task of the science of food compatibility is to adjust the nature and taste of food by combining several foods", among which seasonings play an important role. Now we will only briefly discuss the properties of commonly used condiments and their physical advantages and disadvantages.

1. Salt

Salt is a very important condiment. It tastes salty, slightly spicy, cold in nature and non-toxic. The main ingredient is sodium chloride. Crude salt also contains a small amount of impurities, such as potassium chloride, magnesium carbonate, etc. Sea salt also contains iodine. Functions: clearing away heat, detoxifying, cooling blood, moistening dryness, stopping vomiting, anti-inflammatory, laxative, harmonizing the spleen and stomach, eliminating food stagnation, aiding the kidneys, strengthening tendons, strengthening teeth, and improving eyesight.

Due to its cold nature, people with cold body (slow-cold constitution) and tired body (tired? constitution) should eat less of it. These two types of people are prone to edema, so they tend to avoid salty food. Modern people eat a lot of "heavy" foods, which are high in sodium and low in potassium, which can easily lead to water and sodium retention and swelling. Therefore, Western doctors advise kidney disease patients to avoid salt. People with high blood pressure should consume less salt, and the daily salt intake should be controlled below 5 grams.

In recent years, there have been many reports of the clinical use of salt to treat diseases, including diarrhea, heat stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, hemorrhoids, toothache, constipation, urticaria, etc. There are countless folk remedies that use salt.

2. Sugar

Most of them are made by squeezing juice from sugarcane and beets. After entering the human body, it is digested into glucose to provide energy, and the excess can be converted into fat. Therefore, not only people with diabetes should eat less sugar, but obese people should also eat less.

White sugar tastes sweet and cool in nature, and has the functions of harmonizing the spleen, moistening the lungs and promoting the production of body fluids.

Rock sugar has the same nature as white sugar, and is particularly good at moistening the lungs. It is suitable for people with hot body (dry red body) suffering from dry lungs, dry cough, and constipation, but not suitable for people with cold body.

Brown sugar is sweet and warm in nature. It is an unrefined sugar that contains a variety of trace elements. It is suitable for those who suffer from postpartum lochia, abdominal pain, anemia in women, irregular menstruation, and dysmenorrhea.

The function of maltose is the same as that of brown sugar. If people with spleen and stomach fire and thirstiness eat it by mistake, it may cause bleeding. Sugar is a product that retains moisture, so people with a damp body type (greasy and stagnant constitution) should not eat sugar.

3. Rice vinegar

It tastes sour and bitter, is warm in nature, and is non-toxic. Vinegar is acidic when it enters the mouth, but after entering the body, it can make the body fluids alkaline through metabolism. Using it in cooking can add umami, sweetness and aroma. It has special function in blending flavor.

Vinegar has a long history of medicinal use. "Compendium of Materia Medica" states that "Generally speaking, vinegar can treat various sores, swellings, abdominal pain, phlegm, blood diseases, and kill the poisonous gas of fish, meat, vegetables, and various insects. It is simply because of its sour and astringent properties, and it has the function of dispersing blood stasis and detoxifying." Therefore, it is suitable for people with blood stasis (astringent constitution). Modern medicine also uses it to prevent and treat influenza, hepatitis, bacillary dysentery, hypertension, ascariasis, esophageal cancer, bone trauma, metrorrhagia, corns, herpes zoster, alopecia areata, neurodermatitis, eczema, chronic pharyngitis, etc. Although rice vinegar has many medicinal effects, people with dampness in the spleen and stomach (greasy and stagnant constitution) should not eat it; people with muscle cramps, the initial onset of external infection, gastric and duodenal ulcers and excessive stomach acid should avoid eating it. Note that except rice vinegar, other vinegars are not used as medicine.

4. Sauce, soy sauce, and noodle sauce

It tastes salty, is cold in nature, and is non-toxic; bean paste, sweet sauce, and noodle sauce all taste salty and sweet. It can eliminate restlessness and heat, stop abdominal distension, kill all kinds of poison from medicines and hot soups, eliminate all poison from fish, meat, vegetables and mushrooms, and treat poison from snakes, insects, bees, scorpions, etc. It can neutralize arsenic poisoning and can be taken with water to relieve the symptoms.

5. Oil

There are two types of edible oils: animal oils and vegetable oils. They are the main sources of nutrients such as energy, fatty acids, phospholipids and cholesterol for the human body. Because the oil comes from different sources, its properties and flavors are difficult to describe. At present, urban residents eat too much oil, especially animal fat, which is very harmful. It is one of the important causes of coronary heart disease and stroke. Most vegetable oils not only do not contain cholesterol, but also contain ingredients such as sitosterol and stigmasterol, which can prevent the absorption of cholesterol in the digestive tract. The author recommends sesame oil, which has a mild laxative effect, can treat constipation in hot body (dry red quality), and increase red blood cell volume. Therefore, it is quite suitable for people with fatigue due to deficiency of both Qi and blood, but people with loose stools should avoid it.

6. Fermented black beans

It tastes bitter and is cold in nature. It is made from steamed black beans and then fermented. According to Compendium of Materia Medica, "Black beans are neutral in nature. They are warm when cooked as fermented black beans. Since they are steamed and cooked, they can both rise and disperse. When added with salt, they can induce sweating. When added with wine, they can cure wind. When added with garlic, they can cure dysentery. When added with garlic, they can stop bleeding. When fried, they can stop sweating."

7. Red Yeast

It tastes sweet and warm in nature, is non-toxic, and is made by fermenting white glutinous rice with yeast. It is bright red in color, hence the name red yeast rice. It can aid digestion, promote blood circulation, strengthen the spleen and dry the stomach, treat dysentery, and relieve constipation. It can also treat blood and qi pain in women and postpartum blood loss. It is suitable for cold body but not for hot body.

To sum up, using condiments as medicine means influencing the raw materials through the reasonable combination of several foods and the addition of condiments to meet the physiological requirements of various specific body types. Seasoning should vary from person to person and according to people's physical type. The ultimate goal is to adjust the pathological constitution caused by long-term improper diet and reduce the harm to health, not just to enjoy the taste buds.

8. Five-spice powder

The five-spice powder available on the market is mostly made from grinding cinnamon, galangal, star anise, dried ginger and licorice. It tastes spicy and sweet and is very hot in nature.

Cinnamon bark tastes spicy and sweet, and is hot in nature. It can warm the middle and strengthen the stomach, warm the waist and knees, and treat abdominal cold and bloating, abdominal cold pain in women after childbirth, cold pain in the lower abdomen and cold pain in the stomach, etc. Cinnamon bark has miraculous effects. Kaempferia galanga is spicy, warm in nature and non-toxic. It has the function of warming the middle, warding off malaria and bad air, treating cold pain in the heart and abdomen, cholera caused by cold and dampness, and toothache caused by wind and insects. Star anise tastes spicy, sweet and warm in nature. It has the effect of promoting qi and warming the stomach. It has the same function as galangal, and has a stronger bactericidal effect. Dried ginger is spicy, warm in nature, and non-toxic. It can treat chest fullness, cough, shortness of breath, warm the middle and stop bleeding, induce sweating, expel rheumatism and pain, intestinal dysentery, cold abdominal pain, cold waist and kidneys, promote blood circulation and remove wind, open the joints of the limbs, open the internal organs, promote the flow of various meridians, treat frequent urination at night, stimulate the appetite, and eliminate food stagnation. Licorice is sweet and mild in nature, non-toxic, and can treat cold and heat in the internal organs, strengthen tendons and bones, harmonize muscles, increase strength, cure wounds, detoxify hundreds of medicines, warm the middle and lower qi, benefit the essence and nourish qi, moisten the lungs, nourish the spleen and stomach, reduce fire and relieve pain.

From this we can see that five-spice powder combines all the hot medicines in one prescription, and is indeed suitable for people with cold and tired bodies, and for those with blood stasis and dampness caused by internal cold. However, it is a taboo for people with hot bodies and all those with internal heat. If you violate the food taboos, in addition to being prone to various blood diseases, it can also trigger all chronic diseases caused by internal heat.

9. Pepper

It tastes spicy and very warm, and has the functions of lowering qi, warming the middle, removing phlegm, removing cold air from the internal organs, treating cholera, qi reversal, sudden pain in the heart and abdomen, indigestion, strengthening the kidney qi, and killing all poisons of fish, turtles, and mushrooms. It is suitable for cold and tired bodies, but should not be used for hot bodies.

10. Sichuan pepper

It tastes spicy, warm in nature and is poisonous. It can eliminate coldness in the six internal organs, cold and dampness, arthralgia, retained food and drink in the heart and abdomen, kill insects and fish poison, strengthen yang and treat yin sweat, warm the waist and knees, and reduce urination. Eating too much will damage the heart, damage qi, and hurt the blood vessels, causing forgetfulness and blindness. People with hot body should avoid it.

11. Rice wine

It tastes bitter, sweet and spicy, is very hot and poisonous. Here we are only discussing wine as a condiment.

Rice wine contains about 10% ethanol, which can remove the fishy smell of various meats, fish, shrimps and crabs. Ethanol has a special aroma, and aged wine also has the aroma of ethyl ester, which can improve the taste of dishes. Wine can kill bacteria and preserve food. Trimethylamine, a product of protein decomposition, has a fishy taste and can be dissolved in ethanol and then evaporated, thus removing the fishy smell. "Compendium of Materia Medica" states that the functions of rice wine include: promoting the effectiveness of medicine, killing all evil poisons, unblocking blood vessels, thickening the intestines and stomach, moisturizing the skin, dispersing moisture, relieving worries and anger, expressing one's feelings freely, nourishing the spleen, supporting the liver, removing wind and lowering gas, detoxifying horse meat and tung oil, and curing various diseases caused by cinnabar and stone.

Traditional Chinese medicinal wine is made with wine as the solvent and various medicines added in. The Compendium of Materia Medica introduced it in detail and noted its therapeutic effects, which is a merit; however, it did not note the advantages and disadvantages of different physical conditions, which is a pity.