The cooking of Chinese medicine is skillful, so what is the correct cooking method of Chinese medicine?

Traditional Chinese medicine decoction is the earliest form of traditional Chinese medicine in China. Traditional Chinese medicine decoction is the last process before use, and the quality of traditional Chinese medicine decoction directly affects the curative effect of drugs. Therefore, mastering the correct decoction method of traditional Chinese medicine is an important link to improve the curative effect of drugs. Boiling bitter traditional Chinese medicine is a troublesome and technical job. It is very necessary to know how Chinese medicine decoction can exert its greatest effect and how to decoct it. Before decocting, there is a process of soaking the traditional Chinese medicine for 20~30 minutes to make the medicine fully absorb water, and the decoction has better curative effect. Need to remind everyone that the best water for soaking medicinal materials is cold water. Soaking in hot water above 60℃ will coagulate protein and gelatinize starch, which is not conducive to the dissolution of pharmaceutical ingredients.

To do Chinese medicine well, it is necessary to understand the therapeutic principle of Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine treatment depends on the bias of traditional Chinese medicine, the medicinal properties of traditional Chinese medicine, four qi and five flavors, which can also be called smell for short. The prescriptions prescribed by Chinese medicine in treating patients will adopt different treatment methods according to different conditions of patients, such as warming, clearing, nourishing, dispersing, slippery, astringent, dry and solid. Chinese medicine should be soaked in cold water for about 20 minutes before frying. Generally, the water consumption for decoction after soaking the powder is 1-3cm. Drugs with large dosage, loose foam and easy water absorption can increase the water consumption appropriately. Washing with water will make the effective components of drugs lose. Such as mint and houttuynia cordata, are easy to lose effective components after soaking and washing. In addition, many medicinal materials contain sugars and glycosides, which are soluble in water. After washing, some effective ingredients will be lost, resulting in reduced efficacy.

Choose clean water. Water is the basis of decoction (so the word "soup" comes from water), and it is also the solvent of effective components of drugs. Tap water or clean and pure natural water can be used to cook traditional Chinese medicine, but turbid and unclean water is not allowed and boiled water is not suitable. The water displacement should be appropriate, and more water can be put in the first cooking, and the soaking surface is generally 1.5-3 cm. Soak Qian Qian and fry the soup. First, soak the traditional Chinese medicine in cold water for 1-2 hours. Just cover the medicine surface. Don't pour the soaked medicine. Boil it with medicine.

The general standard for evaluating water consumption is that the water level can be 2 cm higher than that of the medicine after pressing. For drugs with hard texture, the amount of water can be appropriately increased, and for drugs with loose texture, water can be added to just cover the drugs. A dose of medicine is best decocted for three times, which is helpful to the exudation of effective components of the medicine.