It's the season for eating Tanghulu (candied haws on a stick). In addition to aiding digestion and resolving food stagnation, hawthorn can invigorate blood and resolve stasis, making it very helpful for regulating gynecological diseases and preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Regular consumption is also beneficial for cancer prevention. In pharmacies, hawthorn is available in several processed forms, each with different effects.
1. Raw Hawthorn (Shanzha): This is the fruit of the hawthorn, picked, cleaned, sliced, and dried. If a doctor prescribes "Shanzha," the pharmacy will provide the whole hawthorn fruit. If the prescription specifies "Shanzha Rou" (hawthorn pulp), the pharmacy will provide the pulp with the seeds removed. Traditionally, hawthorn was processed by removing the seeds, but a physician from the Ming Dynasty proposed that "the seeds also have medicinal properties and should not be removed," leading to the existence of two forms. Generally, the form with the seeds is more commonly used today. Besides aiding digestion and resolving food stagnation, this type of hawthorn can also invigorate blood and resolve stasis.
2. Stir-fried Hawthorn: Clean hawthorn is placed in a stir-frying container and heated over medium heat until the color darkens, then it is removed to cool. In this processed form, its effect of invigorating blood and resolving stasis is reduced, and its main function is to aid digestion and resolve food stagnation. The digestive effect of stir-fried hawthorn is particularly prominent for breaking down meat. In daily life, adding a few pieces of hawthorn when stewing chicken or beef makes the meat tender more easily, which illustrates hawthorn's excellent effect on digesting meat.
3. Charred Hawthorn (Jiao Shanzha): Clean hawthorn is placed in a stir-frying container and heated over medium heat until the outer surface is charred brown and the inside is charred yellow, then it is removed to cool. This charred hawthorn, besides aiding digestion and resolving food stagnation, is also good at treating diarrhea accompanied by food stagnation. This is why many pediatric experts choose charred hawthorn when treating children with food accumulation and accompanying diarrhea.
4. Hawthorn Charcoal (Shanzha Tan): Clean hawthorn is placed in a stir-frying container and heated over high heat until the surface is charred black and the inside is charred brown, then it is removed to cool. This hawthorn charcoal can treat blood stagnation. As documented in literature, for women with postpartum blood stasis, taking hawthorn charcoal decocted with boy's urine can treat "upward rush of恶血 (vicious blood) and qi obstruction."
In addition, there is honey-processed hawthorn, suitable for patients with spleen deficiency and food stagnation; and brown sugar-processed hawthorn, which can harmonize blood and dissipate stasis, suitable for postpartum blood deficiency and stasis, or lochia that does not cease.
Tanghulu (Candied Hawthorns)
Extended Reading: A Guide to Eating Hawthorn
Everyone knows that hawthorn aids digestion and resolves food stagnation. In addition, hawthorn can also invigorate blood and resolve stasis, making it very helpful for regulating gynecological diseases. For example, it is an excellent dietary remedy for patients with blood stasis type dysmenorrhea. These patients often experience lower abdominal pain on the first or second day of menstruation, or one to two days before their period. The pain lessens or disappears when menstrual blood flows smoothly, and the menstrual blood is dark with clots. At this time, you can take 200 grams of fresh, whole hawthorns with seeds, wash them, add an appropriate amount of water, and simmer over low heat until the hawthorns are soft. Then, add three tablespoons of brown sugar and mix well. Generally, start taking it 3-5 days before the period, one tablespoon of hawthorn paste in the morning and evening each day. You can mix it with hot water to drink. Stop taking it 3 days after the period, and the dysmenorrhea will usually be significantly relieved.
This method is borrowed from the famous physician Zhang Xichun. Zhang Xichun believed that hawthorn "is good at entering the blood aspect and is a key medicine for resolving blood stasis. It can remove abdominal masses, amenorrhea in women, and postpartum pain from blood stasis."
Zhang Xichun once used hawthorn to treat women's blood stasis amenorrhea. He said: "When a woman's period is due but does not arrive, use two ounces of hawthorn to make a decoction, dissolve seven to eight qian of brown sugar in it, and drink it. The period will arrive immediately. This formula has been tested repeatedly with effective results. If the period has not arrived for several months, taking it several times will also bring it down."
Because it can invigorate blood and resolve stasis, hawthorn can also prevent and treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Modern pharmacological research shows that hawthorn has the effects of dilating blood vessels, strengthening the heart, increasing coronary blood flow, improving heart function, exciting the central nervous system, lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, softening blood vessels, and promoting urination and sedation, thus preventing arteriosclerosis. The hawthorn acid in hawthorn also has a cardiotonic effect and is very beneficial for senile heart disease.
In addition, compounds such as vitexin contained in hawthorn have anti-cancer effects, and regular consumption of hawthorn is beneficial for cancer prevention. It has been reported that the water decoction of hawthorn slices can prolong the lifespan of tumor-bearing animals, such as its inhibitory effect on mouse Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells.
It can be seen that hawthorn is truly a good thing that is both medicine and food. However, there are some groups of people who are not suitable for taking hawthorn. Hawthorn only eliminates and does not supplement, so people with a weak spleen and stomach should not eat too much. It is particularly important to note that pregnant women should not eat hawthorn because it breaks blood and resolves stasis, can stimulate uterine contractions, and may induce miscarriage. Pregnant women must not cause problems due to overindulgence.
Hawthorn, Lotus Seed, and Lily Porridge
Extended Reading: A Guide to Eating Dried Hawthorn
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