The meat is tender, delicious, refreshing and delicious. Its skin has a layer of powdery white wax and is shaped like a pillow, so it is also called "white melon", "pillow melon", and "Di Zhi" in ancient times. "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" records that it "takes it for a long time to lighten the body and resist aging". Tao Hongjing's "Compendium of Materia Medica" said: "It facilitates urination and cures ascites and swelling." Later generations of Materia Medica also said that it has the effects of reducing swelling, clearing heat and toxins, and promoting urination.

Winter melon can be used as medicine all over the body. Winter melon peel helps reduce swelling, clears away heat and relieves summer heat. It is often used for edema and body deficiency edema, and can also be used to promote lactation. Winter melon seeds are effective in clearing the lungs and reducing phlegm, diuresis and pus, and are used for coughs due to lung heat and lung abscesses. ), intestinal carbuncle (appendicitis, etc.), white turbid vaginal discharge, etc.; winter melon meat has the effects of diuresis, clearing away heat, eliminating phlegm, and detoxifying, and can cure edema, cough and asthma, summer heat, thirst, diarrhea, hemorrhoids, etc., and can also Relieve hangover poison, fish poison, etc.

Pharmacological research on winter melon

Winter melon contains low sodium, so it has an obvious diuretic effect, which can prevent the conversion of carbohydrates into fat, reduce water and sodium retention, and consume body fat. Ideal for people with kidneys and edema.

Winter melon medicinal diet

1. Winter melon and grass carp soup: 500 grams of winter melon and 250 grams of grass carp (preferably the tail). First, remove the guts of the grass carp, wash it, and fry it until golden brown. Then add appropriate amount of water with the winter melon and simmer for about 3 to 4 hours. Finally, add a little salt to taste. This is a folk prescription for headaches and dizziness.

2. Stewed teal with winter melon and lotus leaves: 200 grams of winter melon, 3 small pieces of tender lotus leaves, 25 grams each of coix seed and adzuki beans, and 250 grams of teal meat. Wash the teal duck meat and cut it into medium pieces; cut the winter melon into large pieces with the skin on; wash the tender lotus leaves; soak the coix kernels and adzuki beans and wash them thoroughly.

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan, add a bowl and a half of boiling water, cover the saucepan, and simmer. First stew over high heat, then stew over medium heat for 50 minutes, then stew over low heat. After stewing, add appropriate amount of oil, salt and MSG, and it is ready to eat. This meal nourishes the lungs, nourishes the kidneys, clears away heat and detoxifies, and is mainly used to treat oliguria and edema caused by chronic nephritis.

3. Winter melon rind hypoglycemic drink: 20 grams each of winter melon rind, watermelon rind, and Imperata root, 15 grams of corn silk, and 90 grams of adzuki beans. Put the above ingredients into a pot and cook them into soup. Take 1 dose a day and drink it in 3 times. This drink has the effect of clearing away heat, quenching thirst and diluting water. It is suitable for treating body fluid damage caused by summer heat, dryness and heat in the lungs and stomach, quenching thirst and inducing drinking, etc.

4. Winter melon and rock sugar pear: appropriate amounts of winter melon flesh and winter melon seeds, 5 to 10 Sichuan scallops, several slices of snow pears, appropriate amount of rock sugar, simmer together for about half an hour and then serve. Winter melon meat and snow pear are edible, and the soup is drinkable. This meal is often used for people with cough and phlegm, and is a common meal in families.

Health Preservation Experience

Winter melon drink: 1 winter melon (divided into 12 pieces), 60 grams of Ophiopogon japonicus, and 45 grams of Coptis chinensis. Mix the latter two flavors and divide it into 12 portions. Add 1 portion of medicine to each piece of winter melon as the daily dose, decoct it in water and take it. This recipe treats thirst, dry mouth, excessive drinking day and night, and general fever.