Cantonese people often use white lentils to cook soup. But the white lentils on the market are round and flat, do you know the difference? Xie Mingkun, a traditional Chinese medicine teacher from the Pharmacy Department of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, explained to everyone how to select and use white lentils.
White lentils are medicinal and food homologous products, according to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, its source is the dried mature seeds of legume lentils. Ripe fruits are harvested in autumn and winter, dried in the sun, the seeds are removed and dried again.
The "Famous Doctors' Catalogue" records that white lentils can "harmonize and descend", and their therapeutic value has been recorded in detail as early as the Yuan Dynasty Meng Jie's "Dietary Therapy Materia Medica", which is considered to be "long-term food head is not white".
The Compendium of Materia Medica by Ming Li Shizhen says: "Hard-shelled white lentils, their seeds are full, white and yellowish, their smell is fishy, their sex is gentle, they are neutralized, and the valley of the spleen is also." Into the Yin Qi, Tongli Sanjiao, can clear and reduce turbidity, so it specializes in treating the disease of the middle palace, relieving the heat and dehumidifying and detoxifying. ”
White lentils taste sweet, slightly warm, return to the spleen, stomach meridians. Functions healthy spleen to reduce dampness, and cool down. It is often used for spleen and stomach weakness, loss of appetite, loose stools, excessive vaginal discharge, hot and wet vomiting, chest tightness and bloating. After stir-frying, the spleen is moisturized and used for spleen deficiency and diarrhea, and excessive vaginal discharge.
Although the single drug power of white lentils is weak, it can replenish the spleen, and can dissolve dampness, mild medicinal properties, supplement and not stagnation, often can be combined with other drugs to produce better efficacy, for the treatment of spleen deficiency and stagnant, summer wet vomiting and other common drugs.
White lentils are often stir-fried in medicine
Compared with domestic white lentils, the shape is drier and flat, the grain head is larger, the outer skin has no black spots, the seed has no small black edges, and there is no black spot at the top. In addition to the differences in appearance traits between imported white lentils and domestic white lentils, they are highly similar in other identification characteristics, but whether imported varieties can be used as white lentils for medicinal purposes needs further in-depth research.
Daily consumption of white lentils is also relatively simple and diverse, boiling porridge and boiling soup and tea can be, but there are a few points to remind everyone:
1. White lentils should be heated and cooked at high temperature before they can be eaten, otherwise there may be headaches, nausea, vomiting and other poisoning phenomena.
2, should not eat more, eat more easy to full stomach stagnation and other discomfort.
3. White lentils contain high purines, and patients with gout and high uric acid should take with caution.
Several white lentil diets are recommended:
White lentil water
Ingredients: 30 g of white lentils with shell, sautéed and charred.
Directions: Add water after crushing, fry for about 30 minutes, and finally add brown sugar to taste.
Efficacy: White lentils can strengthen the spleen and dampness, and have the effect of cooling the heat. Boiled water can be used for summer wet vomiting, suitable for indigestion, diarrhea, loose stools and other symptoms of people to eat.
White lentil yam porridge
Ingredients: 30 g of white lentils, 30 g of fresh iron stick yam, 100 g of rice, 3 red dates.
Directions: After washing the white lentils, add an appropriate amount of water to soak, preferably for more than 4 hours. Wash, peel and dice the yam with an iron stick and set aside. Bring the white lentils to a boil over a previously soaked water heat, turn the heat to a low heat for 30 minutes, then add the diced yam, rice, and red dates. Bring to a boil over low heat and turn to simmer until the porridge is cooked.
Efficacy: This porridge is crystal clear, the taste is smooth, it has the effect of tonifying the spleen and stomach, and stopping diarrhea, which is suitable for people with weak spleen and stomach, chronic diarrhea, and appetite. ■
[Source: The content of this article is synthesized from Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Traditional Chinese Medicine News, professional guidance: Xie Mingkun, Chinese medicine master]