The correct way to fry Asarum

You can see the herb Asarum in some Chinese medicine prescriptions. In fact, Asarum is mainly used to dispel cold and relieve pain and cough. Generally speaking, it is not taken alone, but it works better when taken together with medicinal herbs. Of course, you can also eat it with some other foods in your daily life to achieve different health benefits. As a traditional Chinese medicine, it is important to master the correct method when decocting Asarum, which is not only about the heat and amount of water, but most importantly the order of the herbs, so that it can exert its maximum medicinal effect.

The correct way to fry Asarum:

1. Decoction utensils: The best utensil for decocting medicine is a casserole. Casserole is a kind of pottery. Pottery has uniform heat conductivity, stable chemical properties, is not easy to undergo chemical changes with drug ingredients, and can keep warm. It is the best choice for decocting Chinese medicine. If there is no pottery, white enamelware and aluminum pots can be used instead. But avoid using utensils made of copper, iron, tin, etc.

2. Soaking before frying: Soaking in clean water before frying is conducive to the extraction of effective ingredients. The pre-soaking time should be 30 to 60 minutes.

3. Method of medication: Generally, medicines can be decocted at the same time, but some medicines require different decocting times due to their different properties, performance and clinical uses. Some require special treatment, and even the same medicine may have different properties and clinical applications due to different decoction times. Therefore, when decocting decoctions, one should also pay attention to the method of using medicine.

4. Water for decoction: fresh and clean tap water, river water, lake water, or spring water is preferred. Scientific amount of water to add: The amount of water added for the first decoction = the total amount of each medicine in the prescription (g) + 150 ml + the dosage (the dosage for adults is 150~300 ml). Amount of water to be added for the second decoction: dosage + 200 ml.

5. Heat and time: Generally, use high heat (high heat) when the medicine is not boiling, and use low heat to maintain a slight boiling state (low heat) after boiling to prevent the medicine juice from overflowing or drying up too quickly. The decoction time should be determined according to the nature of the medicine. For antipyretic drugs, the first decoction should be boiled 10 to 15 minutes, and the second decoction should be boiled 5 to 10 minutes later. For tonic drugs, the first decoction should be boiled 40 to 60 minutes, and the second decoction should be boiled 30 to 40 minutes later. For other types of drugs, the first decoction should be boiled 20 to 30 minutes, and the second decoction should be boiled 15 to 25 minutes later. If you want to boil the medicine first, you need to boil it for 10 to 30 minutes. If you want to boil the medicine later, you should put it into the pot in the last 5 to 10 minutes.

5. Number of decoctions: Generally speaking, a dose of medicine can be decocted three times, and at least twice. Because when decocting the medicine, the active ingredients of the medicine will first dissolve in the water that enters the medicinal material tissue, and then diffuse into the water outside the medicinal material. When the concentration of the solution inside and outside the medicinal material reaches equilibrium, the active ingredients will no longer dissolve due to the osmotic pressure balance. At this time, only by filtering out the medicine liquid and adding water to boil it again can the effective ingredients continue to dissolve. In order to make full use of the medicinal materials and avoid waste, it is best to decoct a dose of medicine twice or three times.

6. Squeeze the residue to extract the juice: After filtering out the medicinal liquid, the residue should be wrapped in a double layer of gauze. After it cools down a little, pressurize and squeeze out the medicinal liquid absorbed by the residue, and finally throw away the residue. Experiments have shown that a large amount of effective ingredients can be obtained from the squeezed medicinal liquid, which is approximately equivalent to 1/3 of the original dosage. Especially for some medicines whose efficacy is reduced, lost or not suitable for long-term decoction when exposed to high temperature, the proportion of active ingredients contained in the residue is higher. In this way, the dissolution rate of traditional Chinese medicine can be increased and the efficacy can be improved.