People often soak dried tangerine peel in water to drink, but nutrition experts say that it can also be used in cooking to make many unique and flavorful dishes, and it also has certain health benefits for diet therapy.
Traditional Chinese medicine holds that dried tangerine peel has a pungent, bitter, and warm nature, and it acts on the spleen and lung meridians. It functions to promote qi circulation and strengthen the spleen, lower qi to stop vomiting, regulate the middle jiao to stimulate the appetite, and dry dampness to resolve phlegm. It is indicated for epigastric and abdominal distention and fullness, belching, nausea, and vomiting caused by qi stagnation in the spleen and stomach; poor appetite, lassitude, and loose stools caused by dampness obstructing the middle jiao; and cough with excessive phlegm caused by phlegm-dampness accumulation. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" states that it "treats vomiting, retching, counterflow of stomach qi, gastric upset, occasional vomiting of clear fluid, phlegm accumulation, phlegm-malaria, intestinal obstruction, and mastitis in women. When used in dietary therapy, it resolves the toxicity of fish." "Dried tangerine peel, its bitterness can purge and dry, its pungency can disperse, its warmth can harmonize... When taken with tonifying herbs, it tonifies; with purging herbs, it purges; with ascending herbs, it ascends; with descending herbs, it descends." Pharmacological analysis shows that dried tangerine peel contains volatile oil, flavonoids (such as hesperidin), inositol, vitamin B1, etc.
The functions of dried tangerine peel are as follows:
1. Effects on the digestive system: The volatile oil in dried tangerine peel has a mild stimulating effect on the gastrointestinal tract, which can promote the secretion of digestive fluids, expel gas accumulated in the intestines, and shows the effects of aromatic stomach strengthening and expelling wind to move qi downward.
2. Effects on the cardiovascular system: Decoctions and alcohol extracts of dried tangerine peel can excite the myocardium, but excessive doses can instead cause inhibition. In addition, it can also cause mild contraction of blood vessels, rapidly increasing blood pressure. The pectin in dried tangerine peel also has a certain preventive effect on arteriosclerosis caused by hyperlipidemia.
3. Effects on the respiratory system: The volatile oil in dried tangerine peel has an irritating expectorant effect, making it easier to expel phlegm. The decoction of dried tangerine peel has a slight bronchodilator effect, and its alcohol extract has a better anti-asthmatic effect.
4. Effects on the urinary system: The decoction of dried tangerine peel can cause contraction of renal blood vessels, reducing urine output.
5. Anti-inflammatory effect: When used in combination with vitamin C and vitamin K, the decoction of dried tangerine peel can enhance its anti-inflammatory effect.