I. Korean Honey Black Beans: Black Beans for Kidney Nourishment
Korean honey black beans are a traditional Korean side dish. Besides being a culinary custom, could there also be health principles behind it? The "Food God" once mentioned the benefits of black beans in the article "A Glass of Black Soybean Milk Every Day to Nourish the Kidneys and Prevent Aging." Today, let's delve further into black beans.
Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Regular consumption of black beans can prevent a hundred illnesses." Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) posits that foods of a dark color enter the kidney meridian. Black beans are sweet, warm, and non-toxic, entering the kidney, spleen, and heart meridians. They have the effects of nourishing the kidneys, strengthening the body, eliminating dampness and promoting urination, and resisting aging and prolonging life. The "Secret Record of Longevity" states: "Consuming black beans makes the skin supple, improves complexion, replenishes essence, increases strength, and is beneficial for the deficient, helping them to eat."
The protein content of black beans is particularly rich, exceeding that of meat, eggs, and milk, earning it the reputation of "King of Plant Proteins."
II. The Many Benefits of Black Beans: Don't Blindly Believe the Fertility Claim
There are some folk remedies involving black beans that friends with the following concerns can try:
Early graying of hair: Boil black beans until soft in vinegar, take the juice, and use about 10 grams each time to wash hair with warm water to darken the hair. Eating 20 roasted black beans and a spoonful of black sesame seeds every night also has a hair-darkening effect.
Hair loss: Boil black beans in water, consume 50 grams each time, twice a day. If there is no improvement after a month, you can switch to salt-boiled black beans (add 5 grams of salt to every 500 grams of black beans), and take it as before.
Postpartum ailments: Take 1.5 kg of black beans, stir-fry until smoke appears, place them in a wine bottle, and let them sit for over a day. Take half a small cup each time, 2-3 times a day, until a slight sweat is produced and the body is moisturized, at which point the illness will be cured. Regular consumption after childbirth can prevent wind-related illnesses and resolve blood clots.
Yin deficiency with night sweats: 50 grams of black beans, 50 grams of red dates, and 15 grams of longan pulp (longyan rou). Add 3 bowls of water and simmer down to 1 bowl. Take it in two doses, in the morning and evening.
However, the claim circulating online that "black beans can supplement estrogen, thicken the uterine lining, and help with pregnancy" has no scientific basis.
In TCM, black beans are considered effective for irregular menstruation and have a miscarriage-prevention effect. Pregnant women often benefit from eating them. Therefore, long-term consumption of black beans is suitable for everyone, men and women, old and young, and both the strong and the weak will benefit for a lifetime. However, experts caution that the use of black beans to aid fertility is merely a folk remedy with no clinical application, and its effects have not been proven.