Can Chinese medicine be boiled in an aluminum pot?

People who often prepare Chinese medicine should find that the preparation of Chinese medicine is complicated. And it should be noted that there are many kinds of containers for boiling Chinese medicine, so you should choose the one that is suitable for the medicinal materials. Iron pots and aluminum pots should be materials that people are familiar with, so either one can be used to boil Chinese medicine. However, some people may think that they are inappropriate. Can Chinese medicine be boiled in an aluminum pot?

According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, it is best to use a casserole or ceramic pot to boil Chinese medicine. The properties of pots made of these two materials are relatively stable, they are not easy to react chemically with medicines, and the heat transfer effect is uniform and slow, which can ensure the quality of Chinese medicine decoctions. Therefore, pots made of these two materials have been used from ancient times to the present day. In addition to these two types of pots, enamelware and stainless steel pots can also be used to boil Chinese medicine, but the effect is not as good as casseroles and ceramic pots.

Although aluminum products are relatively safe and reliable to use as tableware, it is not a big problem to use them for boiling medicine occasionally. However, aluminum pots are not suitable for boiling all types of Chinese medicine. If the prescription contains acidic or alkaline drugs such as black plum and borax, they are likely to react with the aluminum pot. Therefore, it is best not to use aluminum utensils to boil this type of medicine.

It should be noted that iron pots, aluminum pots, copper pots and tin pots must not be used to boil medicine, because pots made of these materials are chemically unstable, easily oxidized, and will react chemically with certain ingredients contained in traditional Chinese medicine. For example, reaction with tannin components will produce tannic acid iron which deepens the color of the medicine solution; reaction with flavonoid components will produce insoluble polymers, and so on. After a series of chemical reactions, the quality of the medicine will be affected to a certain extent, which will directly affect the efficacy of the medicine.