How to prepare Chinese medicine?

Many of our friends want to use Chinese medicine to regulate their body when they feel some discomfort. Chinese medicine has a good therapeutic effect on many diseases in our body, but if you want to make the medicine work better, you should also pay attention when cooking the medicine. Not only should you control the heat and the cooking time, you should also choose better utensils.

Before cooking——

Cleaning: Generally, no cleaning is required before boiling. If there is mud or sand in the herbs, rinse them quickly with water. Avoid soaking them to prevent the loss of some water-soluble ingredients.

Soaking the medicinal materials in cold water for about half an hour before decocting can allow the water-soluble components to be separated into the soup and also increase the concentration of the soup.

Cooking——

It is best to use water to soak the surface of the medicinal materials 2 to 3 cm, or gently press the medicinal materials with your hands so that the water surface just covers the back of your hand. Usually some flower and herbal medicines absorb a lot of water. After soaking for half an hour, the water level will drop. You can add cold water to the standard water level and then start decocting.

Generally, Chinese medicine should be cooked over high heat first, then switched to low heat after boiling. However, some Chinese medicines for treating external infections can be simmered over high heat for about 15 minutes after boiling.

For general Chinese medicine, the first decoction should be 20 to 25 minutes, and the second decoction should be 15 to 20 minutes; for Chinese medicine for diaphoresis, the first decoction should be 10 to 15 minutes, and the second decoction should be 10 minutes; for Chinese medicine for tonic, the first decoction should be 30 to 40 minutes, and the second decoction should be 25 to 30 minutes.

After decocting a dose of Chinese medicine twice, the effective ingredients contained in it have been greatly reduced, so it is best to decoct it twice. However, tonic Chinese medicine can be decocted three times. Some prescriptions with larger dosages can also be decocted three times.

After frying——

Filter the medicinal soup immediately after it is cooked. Pour it out while it is hot and do not leave it in the pot for a long time. Otherwise, the drug solution containing too much colloid will gel as the temperature drops, making it difficult to filter, affecting the efficacy of the drug and also easily causing rancidity.

It is best to take the cooked Chinese medicine orally when the temperature is relatively suitable. Try not to leave it for a long time. There are also many dietary taboos when taking Chinese medicine. For some acidic foods or foods that have the function of clearing heat and detoxifying, it is best not to eat them with Chinese medicine to avoid affecting the efficacy of the medicine.