Sihai network

Why must we boil Chinese medicine in casserole?

In our daily life, when we eat traditional Chinese medicine, we usually boil the medicinal materials into soup, let the ingredients in the medicine dissolve in water, and then the patients take it.

Different from boiling soup and frying dishes, boiling Chinese medicine can't use iron pot, copper pot or other metal pot. It's better to use sand pot and earthen pot to boil. This is because: first of all, sand pot and tile pot bottom heat conduction is very uniform, cooking firepower is relatively gentle, and the whole pot heat preservation is relatively strong, water evaporation is relatively small, which is conducive to the preservation of heat-resistant ingredients, and the retention of pharmaceutical ingredients is more comprehensive. Secondly, many herbal medicines contain tannins, organic acids, etc. they will react with iron ions in the iron pot to form water-insoluble precipitates, which can't be absorbed by the human body. Moreover, the alkaloids in traditional Chinese medicine need to be combined with tannic acid to be soluble in water. If the medicine is decocted in an iron pot, the tannic acid will be consumed and the alkaloids will not be soluble, which will also affect the efficacy of the medicine.

Of course, most people choose to boil traditional Chinese medicine in casseroles and earthenware jars, not only because they are scientific, but also because they are used to it. In fact, stainless steel, enamel containers can also be used to boil traditional Chinese medicine, they are also very safe.