Xuzhou's local specialty --- burdock is also known as beef vegetables, strong seeds, beef seeds, bat thorns, Japanese radish, Japanese ginseng, beef whip vegetables, etc.

It is a herbaceous taproot plant of the Asteraceae family. It is a vegetable whose fleshy roots are edible. Its petioles and young leaves are also edible. Burdock seeds and burdock roots can also be used as medicine.

Originating in my country, it was introduced to Japan around 920 AD. Many varieties were cultivated and developed in Japan. In the late 1980s, burdock was introduced to Japan for vegetable use. Most of it was exported and a small amount entered the domestic market.

Burdock In Japan, burdock has become a health vegetable used by ordinary people to keep fit, prevent and treat diseases.

It is comparable to ginseng, hence the name Oriental ginseng.

It has been used for medicinal purposes for a long time in my country. Only in recent years has research begun on the nutritional value, edible value and pharmacology of burdock.

Medicinal value: The fiber of burdock can promote intestinal peristalsis, help defecation, lower cholesterol in the body, reduce the accumulation of toxins and waste in the body, and achieve the effects of preventing strokes and preventing and treating gastric cancer and uterine cancer.

Western medicine believes that in addition to its pharmacological effects of diuresis, eliminating accumulation, eliminating phlegm and stopping diarrhea, it is also used in the dietary therapy of constipation, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that it has the effects of dispersing wind and heat, relieving lungs and clearing rash, detoxifying and soothing the throat.

It can be used for wind-heat and cold, cough with excessive phlegm, measles, rubella, and sore throat.

"Compendium of Materia Medica" calls it "the three essential medicines for dispelling wind, removing heat and detoxifying".

"Compendium of Materia Medica" claims that it "opens the twelve meridians and cleanses the five internal organs of bad odors" and "long-term use can lighten the body and resist aging."

The pharmacological effects of burdock are summarized in my country's "Dictionary of Modern Chinese Materia Medica" and "Dictionary of Chinese Materia Medica" as follows: growth-promoting effects; substances that inhibit tumor growth; and antibacterial and antifungal effects.

Edible value: The fleshy root of burdock is rich in nutritional value.

Each 100 grams of fresh vegetables contains about 87 grams of water, 4.1-4.7 grams of protein, 3.0-3.5 grams of carbohydrates, 0.1 grams of fat, and 1.3-1.5 grams of cellulose.

Carotene is as high as 390 mg, which is 280 times higher than that of carrots.

Vitamin Cl. 9 mg.

Among the mineral elements, it contains 240 mg of calcium, 106 mg of phosphorus, 7.6 mg of iron, and a variety of other nutrients.

The fleshy root of burdock is tender and crispy.

It can be fried, cooked, eaten raw or processed into beverages.

Burdock contains a glycoside, arctium, which can produce burdock glycosides and glucose after hydrolysis.

It also contains vitamin B.

A small amount of alkaloids and fatty oil. The main components in the oil are palmitic acid, stearic acid, arachidic acid, oleic acid, alpha-linoleic acid, and arctosterol.

Books such as "Cherishing Famous Vegetables" and "Vegetable Cultivation" introduce that regular consumption of burdock root can promote blood circulation, remove gastrointestinal garbage, prevent premature aging of the human body, moisturize the skin, prevent stroke and high blood pressure, cleanse the intestines and detoxify, and lower cholesterol.

and blood sugar, and is suitable for long-term consumption by diabetics (because burdock root contains inulin). It has certain curative effects on rheumatoid and antifungal diseases. It also has a good preventive and inhibitory effect on cancer and uremia, so it is known as nature's best medicine.

An excellent blood purifier, Taiwanese folk regard burdock as a holy product for tonifying the kidneys, strengthening yang, and nourishing the body.

The function and value of burdock are being more deeply understood and explored by people.

American health expert Dr. Al Scheder pointed out in his book "The Anti-Aging Bible" that "Burdock root is loved by people all over the world and is considered to be a plant that can help the human body maintain good working condition (from childhood to

A mild nutritional herb suitable for the elderly), burdock can be eaten daily without any side effects, and is an important herb with restorative effects on the balance of the body's systems. Herbalists use it as a cancer treatment and also regard it as having outstanding curative effects.

"Digestive agent and liver detoxifier", the Japanese, the longest-lived nation in the world, have been eating burdock root for a long time.

Dr. Maeda from Kumamoto University School of Medicine in Japan believes that the health function of burdock lies in its ability to eliminate and neutralize "active oxygen species" that are harmful to human health, because "active oxygen species" are not only carcinogens but also one of the causes of arteriosclerosis and aging.

Due to the nutritional value and medicinal functions of burdock, a series of products such as burdock vegetables, burdock tea, burdock wine, and burdock paste have been developed.