Yam has been used in China for at least 2,000 years. The Divine Husbandman's Classic of the Materia Medica (神农本草经), written during the Eastern Han Dynasty, categorized yam as a top quality product, although at that time it was probably wild and had not yet entered the stage of artificial cultivation. In the Tang Dynasty, the Four Seasons Codification quoted the "Mountain Dwelling Essentials" by Taoist priest Wang, which gave a more detailed account of yam cultivation.
The Chinese medicine believes that the yam "the main injury to fill the deficiency, in addition to the cold and heat evil gas, tonifying the middle benefit of the gas, long muscle, long service ears and eyes smart". Many classical medical books have made a high evaluation of the yam.
In folklore, yam is the people **** know the tonic good. It contains protein, sugar, vitamins, fat, choline, amylase and other ingredients, but also contains iodine, calcium, iron, phosphorus and other indispensable inorganic salts and trace elements.
Category: Roots and tubers
Principle: This product is the rhizome of the monocotyledonous plant Dioscoreaceae Dioscorea oppositaThunb.
Harvesting: digging the rhizome in the fall or winter, removing the soil, roots, cut off the head of the reed, washed, soaked in water and scraped the skin, and then repeatedly fumigated with sulfur, dried in the sun. Some in the sulfur fumigation, with a wooden board rolled into a cylindrical shape, cut into sections, sun-dried, playing light.
Chemical composition: contains mannan (mannan), 3,4- dihydroxyphenethylamine, phytic acid (phytic acid), allantoin (allantion), choline, dopamine (dopamine), yam alkaloids (batatasine), as well as more than 10 kinds of amino acids, glycoproteins, polyphenol oxidase.
Sex and flavor: sweet taste, flat nature. Attributes to spleen, lung and kidney meridians.
Effects: Tonifying the spleen and nourishing the stomach, promoting the production of body fluid and the lungs, tonifying the kidney and astringing the essence, clearing heat and removing toxins.
Mainly used for treating deficiency of spleen with little food, prolonged diarrhea, lung deficiency with wheezing and coughing, kidney deficiency with spermatorrhea, dyspareunia, dysuria, deficiency heat and thirst.
There are four major medicines in Chinese medicine, which refer to the yam, dihuang, chrysanthemum, and hyssop produced in Huaiqingfu, Henan Province (near the area of Qinyang, present-day Henan Province). Huai refers to the origin of Henan, the ancients called Dao Di medicinal herbs (that is, we say the authentic or say the real origin), therefore, Huai yam is the doctor asked to come up with from the origin of Henan yam. One of the "iron stick yam" for the famous traditional souvenirs.
But into the 21st century, in the international market, Li County hemp yam began to spread far and wide, more than the iron stick yam. Li County, Hebei Province, in 2003, after the Ministry of Agriculture and the Chinese Academy of Sciences expert group on-site audit, was named by the Ministry of Agriculture as "China's yam township", one of the country's seven agricultural characteristics of the industrial zone; in 2005, Li County yam was formally designated by the state as "China's geographical indications protection products "; May 13, 2011 morning, the European Union announced in Brussels, Li County hemp yam and Gwenxi honeydew, Shaanxi apples, Longjing tea and other four Chinese agricultural products and Longkou fans in the European Union to obtain the protection of the mark Gwenxi honeydew, Shaanxi apples, Longjing tea, Li County hemp yam of the geographic indications of the certificate handed over to the Director General of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China Zhi Shuping.
Modern science analyzes that the biggest characteristic of yam is that it contains a large amount of mucin. Mucin is a mixture of polysaccharide proteins, the human body has a special health role, can prevent fat deposition on the cardiovascular, maintain the elasticity of blood vessels, to prevent premature atherosclerosis; can reduce the accumulation of subcutaneous fat; can prevent the atrophy of connective tissues, to prevent the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and other collagen diseases. Many tonic formulas, such as six flavors of dihuang pill, wolfberry chrysanthemum dihuang pill, gui spoon-tang, ginseng ling bai ju san and other traditional Chinese medicines contain yam.
From the Ming Dynasty to the present life food --- eight precious cakes, is made of yam, hawthorn, malt and other eight flavors of traditional Chinese medicine into fine powder, and rice flour made of cake, for the treatment of the elderly, children's spleen and stomach weakness, less food and abdominal distension, yellow face, loose stools and diarrhea of the disease, the effect is remarkable.
There are many ways to eat yam, such as weak spleen and stomach, with 200 grams of fresh yam, 30 grams of jujube, round-grained rice, porridge with sugar; or 100 grams of fresh yam, 50 grams of millet, porridge with sugar to eat; another yam with lentils, lotus rice and other porridge can also be taken. Lung deficiency cough, kidney deficiency spermatorrhea, etc., you can take 10 grams of fresh yam mashed, plus sugar cane juice half a cup and well, stewed hot food; can also be used alone to take yam juice. Yam belongs to the tonic food, and astringent effect, but there is dampness, heat and cold, as well as people suffering from constipation should not be eaten.