Can stainless steel pots be used to decoct Chinese medicine?

If there is a patient at home, sometimes you may need to decoct Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine itself treats from the inside out, so taking Chinese medicine is definitely the first step! Even though there are portable Chinese medicines now, which are more convenient to use when packed in plastic bags, we still think that freshly decocted medicines are safer and more effective. So to decoct Chinese medicines, we first need to use a pot. Can we use a stainless steel pot to decoct Chinese medicines?

Never use a stainless steel pot to decoct Chinese medicine. Because traditional Chinese medicine contains a variety of biological alkalis, organic alkalis and other ingredients, they can easily react chemically with stainless steel, rendering the medicine ineffective or even generating some more toxic compounds.

The quality of Chinese herbal medicine decoction is closely related to the selected decoction device. Nowadays, clay pots are still the best choice because the material of clay pots is stable and will not react chemically with the drug ingredients. It also transfers heat evenly and gently, which is one of the reasons why it has been used since ancient times. In addition, enamel pots, stainless steel pots and glass frying pans are also available. However, iron pots and copper pots cannot be used, mainly because the chemical properties of iron pots and copper pots are unstable and easily oxidized. When decocting medicine, it can react with the chemical components contained in traditional Chinese medicine. For example, it can react with tannin components to produce tannic acid iron, which deepens the color of the medicine solution. It can form incompatible polymers with flavonoids. It can form salts with organic acids. These will affect the quality of the decoction and are directly related to the clinical efficacy of the Chinese medicine decoction.

The pot for decocting Chinese medicine is very important because it can directly affect the efficacy. A casserole is certainly an ideal utensil for decocting Chinese medicine because it transfers heat slowly and evenly and is non-toxic and harmless. In fact, there are many alternative containers for decocting Chinese medicine, such as enamel utensils, stainless steel utensils, etc., which have good heat transfer, are rust-free and non-toxic, and are lightweight and durable, so they can be used.

It seems that the pot used for decocting Chinese medicine is also very important. If there are some acidic or alkaline medicines in the Chinese medicine, you cannot use aluminum utensils to decoct the medicine. And since ancient times, everyone should know that copper cannot be used to decoct Chinese medicine. Therefore, when decocting Chinese medicine, you must choose suitable utensils.