Better Health Ways

Chinese Herbal Medicine: Herbal Preparations

The most common way to buy herbs is in capsule or tablet form since it very easy to use them this way. In China physicians devised many different methods to prepare medicinal herbs for use. The most common way of administering herbs was the decoction or tea. But there are many other ways that herbs were used depending on the situation or condition of the patient. We'll look at several different ways used in Chinese herbal medicine to administer herbs.

A decoction involves boiling herbs in water. But there's more to it than just boiling the herbs since the temperature of the water and how long you cook the herbs are important factors. The basic instructions go like this. To start you need a container that will hold at least four cups of water. Traditionally the decoction was brewed in a ceramic pot. If you have one you can still do it this way. If you don't then you can use glass (pyrex) or stainless steel. Iron (as in cast iron) is not recommended because over time you can get too much iron in your system. Aluminum is not recommended either because it is associated with negative health effects. Once you have your pot you need to add four cups of water along with the herbs that you want to make a tea out of. Turn the heat up high and bring the water to a boil. Once it is boiling you need to let it boil vigorously for five minutes. After five minutes you can lower the heat to a simmer and let it cook for an additional 30-40 minutes.

The tea and herbs that you do not drink should be refrigerated between use to prevent spoilage. Remember to warm up the tea when you remove it from the refrigerator since according to Chinese medical theory cold can injure your digestive system.

After you finish all the tea you can cook the herbs a second time exactly the same way and drink the tea. After the second cooking the remains of the herbs can be discarded or composted. It should be noted though that some herbs need more cooking and other herbs need less cooking. Roots and Rhizomes can be cooked a long time. Leaves and flowers don't need as long and if you have a mixture of herbs containing roots, rhizomes, leaves, and flowers then starting cooking the roots and rhizomes first then add the leaves and flowers during the last 15-20 minutes of preparation. It is also important to make your decoctions mindfully also. The tea will be used to heal your body so pay attention to what you are doing. An overcooked tea loses a lot of its medicinal qualities and in the long run you may not get the full benefit of the herbal concoction.

Pills are an easy and convenient way to use herbs. In ancient China the herbs were ground into a very fine powder which were blended together with water, honey, flour, or rice paste and formed into a pill. Most formulas made in China are still made into small black pills. Traditionally pills were used for debilitating diseases that required treatment over a long period of time or they were used for herbs that lose their actions when they are heated. For example: the mineral Borneal, cannot be decocted as the heat will break it down into another compound so Borneal was usually added as an ingredient to pills. With modern equipment pills and tablets can be made with machinery. Usually some sort of excipient (binder) is used to help hold the pill or tablet together.