First, the purpose and task of origin processing

In ancient times, all medicines were fresh. With the progress of traditional Chinese medicine science and the development of society, it is no longer suitable to collect fresh drugs for medical treatment, so people begin to dry them and store them for later use. Sun drying is the earliest processing method of medicinal materials. After thousands of years of practice, summary and improvement, with the cooperation of clinical observation of traditional Chinese medicine, the processing technology of medicinal materials has been continuously innovated, improved and perfected. Today, the processing technology of medicinal materials is still constantly innovating and improving, and it is developing in a scientific and modern direction.

Medicinal materials need to go through several different treatments from collection to taking by patients. These treatments are generally called "machining" or "treatment". In fact, treatment and treatment are different concepts, and their purposes, tasks, measures, time and place are very different. Any preliminary treatment and drying of medicinal materials in the place of origin is called "processing", also known as "processing in the place of origin" and "processing of crude drugs". The reprocessing of medicinal materials by pharmacies, pharmacies, pharmaceutical factories or patients is called "processing". Processing at the place of origin means drying fresh products and making them into medicinal materials (or crude drugs). Processing is slicing, frying, baking, etc., making it a "decoction piece" for patients to take directly.

The purpose of medicinal materials processing is to improve the efficacy and the content of effective components, ensure the quality of medicinal materials, achieve medicinal purposes, and facilitate packaging, storage and transportation. The general task is to remove the rough and extract the essence, remove the false and retain the true, ensure the quality and improve the curative effect of medicinal materials. The specific tasks are: 1. Remove non-medicinal parts, impurities, sediments, etc. Ensure the purity of medicinal materials; Second, it is processed into qualified medicinal materials according to the standards stipulated in the Pharmacopoeia; Third, it should be treated according to medical requirements to reduce the toxicity and bad taste of medicinal materials and ensure the effectiveness and safe use of medicinal materials; Fourth, dry packaging is convenient for storage and transportation.

Second, the factors affecting the quality of medicinal materials in the process of processing

The quality of medicinal materials includes its effective components and their content, taste, moisture content, appearance and morphological characteristics, purity, specifications and grades. Appearance and morphological characteristics mainly refer to color, size, shape, section, etc. The quality of medicinal materials is not only affected by plant species, cultivated varieties, cultivation methods and natural factors, but also by factors such as maturity, temperature, moisture, chemical composition, auxiliary materials, processing technology and equipment during the processing of medicinal materials.

(1) Maturity of medicinal materials

After processing and drying, the appearance of immature medicinal materials is shriveled and shriveled, or the color and smell can not meet the prescribed standards. But also has low content of effective components, low drying speed and high processing cost. After processing and drying, the over-ripe medicinal materials are old in texture, dark in color, even lignified, hollow and spongy, and of poor quality.

(2) Temperature

The temperature required for drying and processing of different medicinal materials is quite different. Temperature not only affects the drying speed, but also affects the chemical composition of medicinal materials. For example, Gastrodia elata cannot be dried quickly without high-temperature cooking, and the content of gastrodin is only 0.0006-0. 1 13%. After cooking and rapid drying, the content of gastrodin increased greatly, reaching 0.233-0.296%. Generally, medicinal materials containing volatile oil and sugar should not be baked at high temperature. High temperature will cause a large loss of volatile oil and gelatinize sugar. The drying of fruits, roots and underground stems often requires a high temperature, but if the temperature is too high, especially if it is kept at a high temperature, it is easy to dry outside and dry inside, forming crusts, easy to burn, and there is no oily feeling after drying.

(3) Water

It is best to use clean river water, well water and tap water for the processing of medicinal materials. Washing, soaking and decocting with turbid or saline water will pollute the medicinal materials and lose their proper color. For example, cleaning Pinellia ternata and Ophiopogon japonicus should be carried out in clean running water. After drying, the color will be very white and the quality will be good. The water content of medicinal materials not only affects the drying rate and processing drying rate, but also affects the quality. For example, red flowers and chrysanthemums picked after rain contain a lot of water, which are easy to stick together when drying, and the color is dark. If they are not dried in time, they are easy to rot.

(4) Chemical composition

The chemical components of medicinal plants are extremely complex and have strong water solubility, such as sugar, pectin, organic acids, tannic acid, pigments, glycosides and some alkaloids. And water-insoluble substances such as cellulose, hemicellulose, volatile oil, resin, starch and protein. In the process of processing and drying, the chemical composition of medicinal materials is constantly changing. If the processing and drying are improper, it is often easy to cause the loss of effective components, or even qualitative change. For example, medicinal materials containing glycosides are easy to decompose and lose if they are not dried in time; For another example, medicinal materials containing tannins, such as papaya, Polygonum Multiflori Radix, Fructus Aurantii and so on. It is processed by scraping iron, cutting, boiling and tannin oxidation.

(5) Auxiliary materials

In the process of processing, it is sometimes necessary to add some auxiliary materials to inhibit bad taste and reduce toxicity, or to promote rapid drying and increase color. For example, adding corn and pea pulp to white peony root can inhibit oxidative discoloration. Salt and brine needed for processing auxiliary materials, sugar needed for processing ginseng (sugar ginseng) and clam shell lime needed for processing Fritillaria thunbergii are all auxiliary materials. The quality and dosage of auxiliary materials, the time and usage of adding or blending will affect the quality of medicinal materials processing, and improper use will reduce the efficacy and even prevent them from being used as medicine.

(6) Processing equipment

Processing equipment refers to machinery, drying room, tools and so on. Their quality will directly affect the quality of medicinal materials. For example, the quality of peeling machinery is poor, peeling is not clean, or the loss of medicinal materials is too great. The tool quality is poor, and the cutting surface or peeling is not smooth. The quality of drying room and kang stove is poor, and it is difficult to raise and lower the temperature, which does not meet the design requirements, so that the drying quality of medicinal materials is poor, and even mildew and scorch occur.

(7) Processing technology

Processing technology is the main factor affecting the processing quality of medicinal materials. Because the above-mentioned influencing factors can be adjusted through it, and the unfavorable factors can be turned into favorable factors; Because of poor technology, the advantages will become unfavorable and the quality of medicinal materials will be worse. Processing technology often affects every link of the processing process, such as mastering steaming, boiling, scalding, dipping, temperature, time and color. Control the proportion and timing of auxiliary materials, adjust the temperature in the drying process, etc. These are all expressed by the processing technology of the producers.

Third, the equipment needed for processing

There are many kinds of equipment needed for processing medicinal materials, which vary from medicinal materials to medicinal materials. Generally, it is based on local materials, simple and practical, and it is best to have multiple functions in one device. The main equipment includes tools, machinery, smoking equipment, cooking and ironing equipment, dipping equipment and drying equipment. For drying equipment, please refer to the third section of this chapter.

(1) tool

Most of the tools used for processing are manual operation, mainly used for mechanical processing with great difficulty or small output of medicinal materials. For example, knives and scissors for cutting off non-medicinal parts, scraping, cleaning graded screens, brushes, baskets for washing, needles for punching holes, exhaust and crack prevention during cooking, etc. Some tools used to process a large number of medicinal materials are similar to machinery, but they are still manually operated by people, such as Coptidis Rhizoma, Alismatis Rhizoma, Ginger, Curcuma Rhizome, Ligusticum Chuanxiong and Fritillaria thunbergii. Used for peeling, removing sediment and fibrous roots to make the appearance of medicinal materials smooth, such as bumping into cages, scraping, firewood barrels, etc. The collision cage is a spindle-shaped bamboo cage [figure11-1(1)], the collision cage is a rectangular bamboo basket [figure1-1(2)], and the bucket is

Figure11-1peeling tool

(1) hits the ball cage (2) and hits the barrel (3)

(2) machinery

There are not many machines for processing medicinal materials, mainly because there are many kinds of medicinal materials, different shapes of products and small output. Often one machine can only be used for a certain processing technology of a medicinal material, and one machine cannot be used for multiple purposes. So the processing machines used now are all specialized or use other machines. The machinery used for processing medicinal materials is mainly used for peeling, slicing, cleaning, grading, packaging, threshing and so on. Such as Cornus officinalis seeder, Pinellia ternata peeler, burdock seed sheller, slicer, grain sheller, rice mill (for Coix lacryma-jobi sheller), Fritillaria peeler, etc. Mechanization of medicinal materials processing can greatly reduce physical labor and improve work efficiency and quality of medicinal materials processing. According to the characteristics of medicinal materials processing, it is advisable to use one machine for multiple purposes and develop miniaturized processing machinery.

(3) Sulfur fumigation equipment

The equipment used for sulfur fumigation mainly includes fumigation cabinet and fumigation room. The fumigation cabinet is a square or rectangular wooden cabinet, which is divided into upper and lower floors with bamboo curtains. The upper layer is paved with medicinal materials, and the lower layer is put in a stove or a basin to burn sulfur. The fumigation room is similar to the drying room, but smaller in size. An outdoor oven is set to burn sulfur, and sulfur dioxide is sucked into the room through pipes. You can also put a stove indoors to burn sulfur. The simplest equipment for fumigating sulfur is a cloth or plastic tent, in which a brazier is built to burn sulfur.

(4) Cooking and ironing equipment

The equipment used for steaming, boiling and scalding medicinal materials is generally simple, and producers with small output often use electric cookers and steamer (steamer) for daily use. There are special cooking equipment with large output, such as boilers, large steamer for processing aconite, large iron pot and so on. Steamer is made of wood, bamboo or aluminum, and its size is uncertain, mostly round or square. Cooking and ironing can also use machinery.

(5) Impregnation and washing equipment

According to the specific situation, the equipment for soaking and washing medicinal materials is configured. Generally speaking, the output can be very small, and the medicinal materials can be soaked and bleached with daily utensils such as cylinders, pots and barrels. Concrete, stone, etc. can be used to build large-scale ponds with large output for many buildings. , and is equipped with a sewage outlet. Washing equipment should not be fixed, and buckets and pots are generally used, because the fixed equipment is inconvenient to operate and takes a long time to change water.

Fourth, the processing method

There are many processing methods of medicinal materials, and there are great differences between different medicinal materials. Some processing techniques are simple, such as sun drying or shade drying, such as some seed medicinal materials; Others are more complicated, such as ginseng and aconite. So it should be processed according to its characteristics, quality, specifications and other requirements. The processing methods of medicinal materials can be divided into pre-drying treatment and post-drying treatment. The treatment before drying is also called pretreatment, which mainly includes washing, cleaning, peeling, trimming, boiling, soaking and bleaching, fumigation and sweating. The treatment after drying is mainly sorting, grading, bundling and packaging. Packaging will be discussed in the fourth section of this chapter.

(1) washing

Washing is mainly to remove the sediment and dirt on the surface of medicinal materials, as well as some rough skin and fibrous roots, so as to achieve the purpose of decocting, drying and cleaning. Washing is mostly used for roots and underground stems, especially Radix Glehniae, Radix Codonopsis, Radix Asparagi, Rhizoma Gastrodiae, Rhizoma Polygonati Odorati, etc. , need to be boiled, and the color is good after washing and ironing; White medicinal materials, such as ginseng, platycodon grandiflorum, Ophiopogon japonicus, Radix Paeoniae Alba, Chinese yam, Fritillaria thunbergii, Pinellia ternata, etc., should be cleaned to meet the quality standards. However, if some of them are bright in appearance or contain water-soluble pigments, they should not be washed with water, such as salvia miltiorrhiza, coptis root and turmeric.

The washing water should be clean, not muddy water or sewage. Baskets and bottles of medicinal materials are best washed with running water, which makes it easier to remove sediments. Clean toxic medicinal materials such as Pinellia ternata, Rhizoma Arisaematis and Rhizoma Amorphophalli. Or medicinal materials that are irritating to the skin and easy to be allergic, such as Chinese yam. And first apply rapeseed oil or ginger on your hands and feet to avoid poisoning.

(2) Cleaning

Cleaning is mainly to remove impurities and non-medicinal parts from medicinal materials, and at the same time to carry out preliminary classification, which is convenient for processing and drying respectively. Some impurities are difficult to remove in washing and can be removed by tools or hands. Remove non-medicinal parts, such as root herbs, and usually remove aerial parts or reed heads. There are more than two medicinal parts, or medicinal parts are propagation materials, and cleaning has the task of separating them, such as Radix Isatidis and Folium Isatidis, Radix Curcumae and Curcuma Rhizome, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, Rhizoma Dioscoreae, Radix Paeoniae Alba, Rhizoma Corydalis, etc.

(3) peeling

Roots, underground stems, fruits, seeds and skins often need to be stripped of epidermis (or pericarp and seed coat), so that the medicinal materials are bright and clean, and the internal water is easy to penetrate outward and dry quickly. Skinning should be uniform in thickness, smooth in appearance and free from roughness, and the skin should be removed to the greatest extent. The peeling methods include manual peeling, tool peeling, mechanical peeling and chemical peeling.

1. Manual peeling

Generally, the output is small, so it is impossible to peel with tools or machinery, so manual peeling is adopted. Some roots, underground stems, barks and barks with extremely irregular shapes are mostly peeled by hand, such as Platycodon grandiflorum, Paeonia lactiflora, Dioscorea opposita, Eucommia ulmoides, Cortex Phellodendri and Cinnamomum cassia. Generally, manual peeling should be carried out when it is fresh, which is easy to peel and efficient. If the peel is used as medicine, peel it off while it is fresh, such as dried tangerine peel and green tangerine peel. , also belongs to the manual peeling.

2. Skinning tools

It is often used to peel medicinal materials after drying or during drying. Commonly used tools are cage bumping, scratching, poking wood, baskets, sacks and so on. Put the medicinal materials into the above tools, shake and push them, so that the medicinal materials collide and rub with each other, which can remove the rough epidermis and make the appearance of the medicinal materials smooth.

3. Mechanical peeling

If the yield is large and the shape of medicinal materials is regular, mechanical peeling can be used, which not only has high efficiency and low cost, but also can avoid poisoning. Portable mixers are generally used for peeling, such as Pinellia ternata, Rhizoma Arisaematis and Alismatis Rhizoma. Special peeling machines have been created everywhere, such as the peeling machine for Fritillaria thunbergii.

4. Chemical peeling

There are few users at present. Because chemicals are easy to pollute medicinal materials, they must be used with caution. Chemical peeling mainly uses chemical agents to corrode the epidermis of medicinal materials to achieve the purpose of peeling. Commonly used chemicals are lime and alkali. If Pinellia ternata is soaked in lime water, the epidermis is easy to fall off.

(4) Finishing

Trimming is the use of pruning, cutting, shaping and other methods to remove non-medicinal parts and non-standard parts, or to make the medicinal materials neat, using binding and packaging. Processing techniques should be formulated according to the specifications and quality requirements of medicinal materials, some processing techniques should be completed before drying, and some processing techniques should be completed after drying. Such as cutting reed heads, fibrous roots, lateral roots, slicing, cutting petals, shortening, tapping and so on. , mostly before the medicinal materials are dried; Cut off residual roots and buds, cut off uneven parts, etc. Usually after the medicinal materials are dried.

(5) steaming, boiling and scalding

Steaming, boiling and scalding are the heat treatments of fresh medicinal materials in steam or boiling water for different lengths of time, all of which are carried out before the medicinal materials are dried. The purpose is to expel air from the tissue of medicinal materials, destroy oxidase, prevent oxidation and avoid discoloration of medicinal materials; Reduce the loss of effective components and ensure that the quality and taste of medicinal materials will not change qualitatively; The protoplasm in the cells of medicinal materials coagulates and the plasma wall is separated. When drying, water evaporates quickly and dries quickly. So that the added auxiliary materials can easily penetrate inward; Toxic substances in medicinal materials are destroyed by high temperature and can be taken orally.

Steaming is a heat treatment in which medicinal materials are put into a steamer or retort, heated in a boiling water pot and steam is used. The length of steaming depends on the purpose, which is beneficial to drying. Steam until cooked, and the steam passes through the top of the cage (retort top), such as chrysanthemum and asparagus. In order to remove the toxicity, the steaming time should be long, such as attached tablets 12-48 hours.

Boiling is a heat treatment method in which medicinal materials are boiled or boiled thoroughly in boiling water. It takes a long time to cook, and medicinal materials need to be cooked, such as gastrodia elata. The scalding time is very short until the heart is thoroughly cooked. Southwest China is known as "Liao", such as Chuanmingshen, Dendrobium, Polygonatum and so on. It dries quickly after ironing. To judge whether the boiling is well done, you can take 1-2 out of boiling water and blow it. Those who appear to "dry" quickly are cooked. After blowing, the appearance is still wet, or it dries slowly, indicating that the heart is not ripe yet, and it is necessary to continue boiling.

(6) Soaking and bleaching

Dipping and bleaching refer to dipping and rinsing. Impregnation usually takes a long time, and some accessories are added. The washing time is short and the water is changed frequently. The purpose of soaking and bleaching is to reduce the toxicity and bad taste of medicinal materials; Inhibit the activity of oxidase to avoid oxidative discoloration of medicinal materials, such as Radix Paeoniae Alba and Rhizoma Dioscoreae. In soaking and bleaching, we should always pay attention to the changes of the shape, color and taste of medicinal materials, and master the time, water change, the amount of auxiliary materials and the timing of adding. Soaking and rinsing water should be clean, and water should be changed frequently, so as to avoid mildew of medicinal materials due to odor.

(7) Sulfur fumigation

Sulfur fumigation is mainly carried out before drying, which is different from sulfur fumigation in order to prevent mildew during storage. Processing is the use of sulfur combustion to produce sulfur dioxide, to achieve the purpose of accelerating drying, so that products turn white, and have the role of mildew and insecticidal, such as angelica dahurica, yam and so on. Sulfur fumigation must make sulfur burn fully to reduce the influence of sublimated sulfur particles on the quality of medicinal materials. The ignition point of sulfur is above 230℃, and some auxiliary fuel should be added during ignition to make it burn completely.

(8) Sweating

After the fresh medicinal materials are heated or semi-dried, the heating is stopped, and the internal water evaporates outward when sealed and stacked. When the air in the pile is saturated with water vapor, the water vapor condenses into water droplets and adheres to the surface of medicinal materials when it meets the low temperature outside the pile. If people sweat, this process is called "sweating". Sweating is a common and unique process in the processing of medicinal materials, which can effectively overcome the crust in the drying process, make the internal and external drying of medicinal materials consistent, and accelerate the drying speed; When some volatile oils are mixed, the chemical composition changes, and the dried medicinal materials are more oily, shiny or fragrant. Sweating methods include ordinary sweating and heating sweating.

1. Ordinary sweating

It is to pile fresh or semi-dry herbs in one place and cover them with straw mats to keep them warm, so as to achieve the purpose of sweating. This method is simple and widely used, such as Radix Scrophulariae, Radix Isatidis, Radix et Rhizoma Rhei and Radix Astragali. In addition, sun exposure and night accumulation make medicinal materials soft, which is also a common sweating, such as mint.

Heating and sweating

Heating and sealing fresh or semi-dry medicinal materials to make them sweat is called heating and sweating. For example, Magnolia officinalis and Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. Scald with boiling water several times and heat it, and then accumulate sweat; The processing of Poria cocos in Yunnan is to dig a pit, heat it with firewood, then spread a layer of grass, then spread Poria cocos and grass alternately, and finally cover the grass tightly to make it sweat. The former is called sweating, and the latter is called sweating.

In addition, we should grasp the time and frequency of sweating. Generally, semi-dry and basically dry medicinal materials can sweat once; Fresh herbs, fleshy roots or underground stems with more water will sweat for a little longer and more times. In the high temperature season, the sweating time should be short to avoid mildew and deterioration; In the low temperature season, the sweating time is slightly longer.