Whenever spring comes, all things germinate, all kinds of mountain delicacies poke their heads out in the spring rain, commonly known as "seasonal vegetables", spring bamboo shoots, toons, bracken and so on all belong to "seasonal dishes". Bracken comes from the young leaves of the fern of the family of the anchovy fern, also known as the leading vegetable, Ruyi vegetable, the texture of bracken is crisp and tender, the taste is delicious, the poet Lu You of the Song Dynasty once praised the bracken in the poem "bracken sprouts are precious and tender pressed spring vegetables", thinking that the freshness of bracken is better than all the vegetables in spring, so bracken is also known as "the king of mountain vegetables".
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies bracken as a category 2B carcinogen, and the main carcinogenic ingredient contained in bracken, protofernin, has a lower carcinogenicity rating of "Group 3 carcinogens", which means that it is not sure whether it can cause cancer, but it has the potential to cause cancer, so can delicious bracken be easily cooked and eaten?
The answer is that pretreatment is required.
Protofern glycoside is an unstable substance, with the characteristics of water solubility and high temperature resistance, after soaking, bleaching, steaming, and frying, the content of protofern will be greatly reduced, and aside from the intake dose and intake time to eat bracken = carcinogenic is very one-sided, after the processing of the cooking process, you can enjoy the delicacy of bracken by occasional consumption.
Bracken is highly nutritious and can not only be eaten as a vegetable, but also has certain medicinal properties. Bracken is used as a rhizome or whole herb. Sweet, slightly bitter, cold. Return to the liver, stomach, and large intestine meridians. It is not suitable for raw food, long-term food, and those with spleen and stomach deficiency and scabies should take it with caution.
The main nutrients were bracken total flavonoids and bracken polysaccharides, and animal experiments showed that bracken total flavonoids had the effects of scavenging free radicals, antioxidant, inhibiting tumors, anti-mutation, regulating and enhancing immunity, and bracken polysaccharides also had the effects of scavenging free radicals and antioxidants.
Bracken has the effect of clearing heat and dampness, reducing gas and phlegm, and stopping bleeding. It is mainly used for the treatment of cold and fever, jaundice, dysentery, band down, diaphragm, tuberculosis, coughing up blood, intestinal wind and blood in stool, rheumatism and paralysis.
The main formulations are as follows:
Treatment of postpartum dysentery:
Take the newborn bracken, no limit on how much, and dry it in the shade for fine scattering (spring fern scattering). Each serving of three money daggers, hollow aged rice drink down. -- "General Records of Shengji"
Treatment of intestinal wind and heat poison:
Bracken flowers (leaves) are roasted to the end, 10 grams per serving, and the rice is drunk. - "Taiping Shenghuifang"
Anal prolapse:
3-6g decoction of whole herb of fern. Divided into 2-3 times a day (Food Chinese Medicine and Prescriptions)
Treatment of hypertension, dizziness and insomnia:
15g bracken, decoction in water. (Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine in Ningxia)
Treatment of tuberculosis hemoptysis:
30g of fern, add boiling water and mash the juice. (Hunan Pharmaceutical Chronicle)
Treatment of chronic rheumatoid arthritis, joint heat and pain, yellow urine:
15g bracken, decoction in water. (Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine in Ningxia)
Bracken is not only delicious, but it can also be used as medicine, but everything should be done in moderation and in moderation, so be careful not to overeat!
Reviewer: Shi Qi, The First People's Hospital of Jiangxia District, Wuhan
Author: Guo Si, chief pharmacist of the First People's Hospital of Jiangxia District, Wuhan