Do you need to clean Chinese medicine before boiling it?

Chinese medicine does not need to be washed before boiling, because the medicinal properties of Chinese medicine will be lost after washing with clean water, so we can choose medicinal materials with mud or dirty materials when boiling. We suggest that everyone should learn more about the methods of decocting Chinese medicine in life, so that you can better understand the methods of decocting Chinese medicine and the value of utilizing Chinese medicine.

No need to wash when boiling Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine must be boiled in a casserole. Before boiling, add cold water and soak for half an hour. Add more water the first time, usually 3 bowls of water, boil it on low heat and then simmer for 25 minutes. The second time, add 2 bowls of water, boil it and then simmer for 20 minutes. Mix the two decoctions of medicine together and drink it in two doses.

During the production process, Chinese medicinal materials usually need to go through a series of processing, including cleaning to remove impurities, drying and other steps. This way, the sanitary conditions of the Chinese medicine produced meet the standards. However, some medicinal materials cannot be washed, as the efficacy will be lost after washing with water. Many Chinese medicinal materials contain water-soluble sugars and sweet ingredients. After washing with water, some of these ingredients will dissolve in the water, which will cause the efficacy of the medicine to decrease and affect the therapeutic effect.

Generally speaking, do not wash it, because many important ingredients have been processed and washing will damage their medicinal properties. For some medicinal materials, such as vinegar-processed Yuanhu, honey-roasted ephedra, wine-processed rhubarb, and Arisaema consanguineum, auxiliary materials such as honey, vinegar, wine, and bile are added during the processing. If washed with water, some of the auxiliary materials will be lost. Many medicinal materials in Chinese herbal prescriptions are in powder form, and some need to be crushed when preparing the medicine, such as dragon bones, oysters, talcum powder, peach kernels, etc. If they are washed with water first, it will inevitably cause the loss of these medicines and affect the efficacy.

In order to enable everyone to better utilize the therapeutic value of traditional Chinese medicine in life, we want to tell you that traditional Chinese medicine cannot be washed before boiling, because washing before boiling will cause the loss of the value of traditional Chinese medicine, so we must soak the traditional Chinese medicine before boiling, then boil it with high heat, and finally simmer it with low heat.