As the saying goes: "Coarse cloth warms, and vegetable roots are fragrant." Many discarded vegetable roots actually have high nutritional, medicinal, and topical value. As long as they are thoroughly cleaned and used properly, they can achieve the effects of nutrition, health care, preventing and treating diseases.
Cabbage root
Sweet in flavor and slightly cold in nature, it has the effects of clearing heat, promoting urination, relieving the exterior to dispel cold, nourishing the stomach, and quenching thirst. Boiling washed and sliced cabbage root with ginger and scallion white into a decoction for consumption can treat early-stage cold symptoms with aversion to cold and fever, as well as stomach heat and yin injury.
Scallion root
Warm in nature and pungent in flavor, it contains vitamin C and carbohydrates. Mashing scallion root with fermented soybeans and boiling it in water, adding brown sugar, or cooking it with an appropriate amount of rice to make congee can prevent colds and flu.
Eggplant root
Sweet in flavor and cold in nature, it contains various alkaloids, vitamins B and C, carotene, and fat. Chopping the eggplant root and boiling it into a strong decoction, then drinking it with brown sugar can treat bronchitis.
Celery root
Sweet and slightly bitter in flavor, it contains protein, fat, vitamins, phosphorus, and calcium, and can invigorate the brain, refresh the mind, moisten the lungs, and stop coughing. Taking a decoction of celery root and jujubes, eating the jujubes and drinking the soup, can prevent arteriosclerosis.
Chive root
Pungent and warm in nature, it has the effects of warming the middle jiao to promote qi circulation, dispelling blood stasis and detoxifying, reducing swelling and alleviating pain. Mashing chive root and applying it to the site of injury can treat falls and bruises.
Water spinach root
Mild in nature and sweet in flavor, it contains protein, fat, vitamins B1, B2, C, etc., and has the effects of clearing heat and cooling the blood, promoting urination, and detoxifying. Decocting 120 grams of water spinach root in water can treat dysentery; mashing it for external application can treat swelling and pain from falls; and gargling with the decoction can treat toothaches from cavities.
Spinach root
Cool in nature and sweet in flavor, it can nourish blood, stop bleeding, astringe yin, and moisten dryness. It contains iron, protein, vitamins A, B1, B2, C, and vitamin K, which is generally lacking in other fruits and vegetables, helping to prevent bleeding tendencies of the skin and internal organs. Additionally, eating spinach roots often can enhance physical fitness, beautify the skin and detoxify, protect eyesight, and stabilize mood.