After boiling, especially carbonization, the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicines will change, and some will continue to produce substances harmful to human body. If you take it again, it will not only fail to achieve the required therapeutic effect, but sometimes it will even outweigh the benefits. For example, Schizonepeta tenuifolia has the effects of tonifying deficiency, dispelling cold and penetrating rash. If fried for a long time, its ingredients will evaporate. If it becomes Schizonepeta charcoal, it will lose the efficacy of grasping the surface and produce the efficacy of promoting blood circulation. For example, Pollen Typhae commonly promotes blood circulation and removes blood stasis, but burnt Pollen Typhae charcoal can promote blood circulation, with the opposite effect.
Generally speaking, when frying, we should pay attention to the medicinal materials with high cassava starch content and their seed Chinese medicinal materials containing protein and mucus, because they are easier to cook, such as Radix Rehmanniae, Radix Rehmanniae Preparata, Rhizoma Dioscoreae, Radix Adenophorae, and salted Semen Plantaginis.
In addition to the drug itself, there are several important reasons that lead to the boiling of Chinese herbal medicine:
The first is the discharge flow. Too much water will increase the boiling time when boiling Chinese medicine, which will make the medicine that is not suitable for long-term boiling ineffective, not to mention too much medicine juice, and patients can't finish it; If it is too little, the medicine ingredients are not easy to boil, very, very easy to boil. It is best to soak Chinese herbal medicines in cold water for 20-30 minutes before decoction, and the appropriate dosage is 1-3 cm. If the dosage is large or the moisture-absorbing drugs are loose, the water demand can be moderately increased.
Followed by the frying time and the size of the fire. Generally, the decoction can be boiled with high fire and then stewed with low fire for 30 minutes. However, exterior-relieving drugs, heat-clearing drugs and aromatic drugs should not be decocted for a long time, and the general drug 15-20 minutes is enough.
Do you know that Chinese herbal medicines can still be drunk after cooking? Nourishing medicine takes a little longer to decoct. Generally, after the fire is boiled, it should be slowly fried for 40-60 minutes and mixed 2-3 times at intervals to avoid being boiled.