Autumn is the season when seasonal dried chestnuts come to market. Chestnuts, also known as chestnuts, are known as the "king of dried fruits".
Chestnut is derived from the genus Chestnut in the family Crestidae and is a deciduous tree. Also known as chestnuts, woolly chestnuts, wind chestnuts. There are 7 species of chestnut plants in the world, and there are three species in China: Chinese chestnut, thatched chestnut and cone chestnut. China is the origin of chestnuts, cultivated for thousands of years, the earliest can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Chestnut is widely distributed in China, can be divided into two major varieties of north and south, the northern varieties of fruit is relatively small, sweet and sticky, suitable for stir-frying, especially sugar stir-frying. The southern varieties of fruit are large and starchy, partial japonica, and are more suitable for cooking soups.
Medicinal value of chestnuts
Chinese medicine believes that chestnuts are flat, sweet, into the spleen, stomach, kidney three meridians, with stomach and spleen, kidney strengthening, blood circulation and other functions, the main treatment of spleen deficiency and diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, waist and knee soreness, tendon fractures, swelling and pain, fistula, vomiting, vomiting, blood in the stool and other diseases.
Chestnuts can be used not only edible but also medicinally. Chestnuts were first recorded in the "Famous Doctors' Catalogue" at the end of the Han Dynasty, which said: "Chestnut, salty, warm, non-toxic." The main qi, thick stomach, kidney qi, hunger tolerance." "Qianjin Food Treatment" contains: chestnuts "raw food, even cure waist and foot failure"; "Tang Materia Medica" contains: chestnuts "chew the living on the disease, cure broken bones, pain, swelling and stasis"; "Materia Medica" contains: "Chestnut cures kidney deficiency, waist and leg weakness, can pass through the kidneys, thick stomach, kidney main stool, chestnut can lead the kidney"; "Edible Materia Medica" contains: chestnut "rational bone wind pain"; "Yunnan Materia Medica" contains: chestnut "cure nausea".
In addition to the edible and medicinal use of seed kernels, roots, bark, leaves, flowers, outer fruit peel (chestnut shell), inner peel, and total buds (chestnut hair balls or shell buckets) can be used medicinally. Among them, the commonly used clinical bract is the total bud of the chestnut, that is, the chestnut shell, which is also called the wind chestnut shell in Guangdong.
The 97th edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia describes the characteristics of chestnut shells as follows: this product is spherical in shape, slightly flattened, with a diameter of 4 to 8 cm, a height of 3 to 4 cm, and mostly longitudinally cracked into 2 to 4 petals. The outer surface is yellowish brown or brown, densely covered with antler-like spines from the base part of the branch, the spine length is 1 to 1.5 cm, and the outer surface and the spine are densely covered with gray-white to gray-green soft hairs, mostly with thick fruit stems. The inner surface is densely covered with long yellow-brown hairs with mercerized hairs, and the base has scars after 2 to 3 nuts shed. Hard, cross-sectional granular, dark tan. Chestnut shell (wind chestnut shell) is sweet, astringent and flat. It has anti-cough, sputum and anti-inflammatory effects. For chronic bronchitis, cough with sputum, whooping cough, lymphadenitis, mumps.
Caution: Contraindicated in patients with rheumatism.
Edible value of chestnuts
Chestnuts are sweet and nutritious. Studies have shown that chestnuts are rich in carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin C, niacin, carotene, retinol, dietary fiber, and minerals such as phosphorus, calcium, potassium, iron, copper, manganese, and magnesium.
Chestnuts can be substituted for grain, together with dates and persimmons and called "hardcore crops" and "woody grains", can ensure the supply of basic nutrients of the body, is a cheap and nutritious tonic food. Chestnuts can be eaten raw, steamed, stir-fried, cooked, or made with chestnut flour to make a variety of pastries, and can also be combined with other ingredients to make a variety of fragrant delicacies.
Eating tips: The recommended amount is about 50 grams per person per time, especially when eating raw food, it should be controlled.
Eat raw to supplement kidneys cooked to eat healthy spleen
Chinese medicine believes that chestnuts taste sweet and warm, into the spleen, stomach, kidneys, the main effect is to nourish the stomach and spleen, tonify the kidneys and strengthen the muscles. Chestnuts are eaten roughly into two types: raw and cooked. It is generally believed that raw food is eaten to supplement the kidneys, and cooked to strengthen the spleen.
Eating chestnut raw can prevent kidney deficiency caused by waist and knee weakness, unfavorable waist and legs, increased urination, fractures, hematoma and pain caused by trauma, hematoma and pain in muscles and bones. Raw chestnuts also have the effect of stopping bleeding, if the raw chestnuts are shelled and mudded, applied to the affected area can also treat bruises, bruises, swollen pain and so on.
Chestnuts can be sautéed or steamed to eat. For "spleen deficiency", especially children with no color, fatigue, thin body, anorexia or refusal to eat, chestnut kernels can be steamed and ground into cakes to eat, or chestnut porridge made of chestnut and japonica rice can be used to regulate the gastrointestinal tract. This method of eating is also suitable for the treatment of poor stomach intake and weakness of qi in the elderly due to functional degradation.
Chestnut health diet therapeutic medicinal food
Chestnut japonica rice porridge
Ingredients: 50 g of chestnuts, 100 g of japonica rice.
Directions: Wash both, add water to cook into porridge, season with sugar or oil and salt, and serve as a warm food for breakfast and dinner.
Efficacy: This porridge strengthens the spleen and stomach, strengthens the muscles and tonifies the kidneys, especially for the elderly's poor stomach absorption, low back pain, weakness of the lower limbs, faltering and spleen deficiency and diarrhea caused by the elderly's functional degradation (kidney deficiency).
Chestnut walnut paste
Ingredients: 40 g of chestnuts, 40 g of walnuts, 40 g of sugar.
Directions: Stir-fry chestnuts and pound them with walnut kernels to form a puree, add sugar and mix well into a bowl, then mix with boiling water to form a paste. Serve as a snack or breakfast.
Efficacy: This paste tonifies the liver and kidneys, strengthens the muscles and bones, especially suitable for kidney deficiency tinnitus deafness, impotence sperm, low back pain and wheezing and other symptoms.
Huaishan chestnut chicken
Ingredients: 1 fresh iron stick yam, 12 fresh chestnut kernels, 1/2 chicken, pork meat to taste, 3 slices of ginger, 5 red dates.
method:
1: Peel and cut the iron stick yam (soak in cold water to avoid oxidation), wash the chestnuts, wash the chicken and chop the large pieces, cut the pork into suitable pieces for later.
2, the chicken, pork meat into boiling water to remove blood water, boiling water can add a little ginger slices to fishy.
3, put the prepared ingredients together into the stew cup, pour the appropriate amount of water, simmer until 1-1.5 hours, according to personal taste, add the appropriate amount of salt to eat.
Effect: Nourish qi, strengthen the spleen and kidneys, nourish the blood and replenish the deficiency.
Note: Although chestnuts are good, they are difficult to digest when eaten raw, and they are easy to stagnate when eaten cooked, so they cannot eat too much at a time, especially children.
Chestnut stewed pork ribs
Ingredients: 150 grams of ribs, 100 grams of chestnuts, 10 grams of ginger, 10 grams of green onions, a little cooking oil, salt, soy sauce.
Directions: Cut the pork ribs into pieces and wash the flying water, steam the chestnuts and peel them, slice the ginger, cut the green onion into sections, sauté the ginger and shallots in oil, add the ribs and chestnuts and simmer for 30 minutes, add salt and soy sauce to taste.
Effect: It has the effect of nourishing the stomach and spleen, tonifying the kidneys and strengthening the muscles, which is suitable for all ages.
Chestnut stewed hen
Ingredients: 150 g chestnuts, 1 hen (about 1500 g), 20 g sliced ginger, 30 g shallots.
Directions: Remove the chicken from the hair, wash and cut into pieces, add water to a casserole and boil, skim off the foam, add chestnuts, ginger, green onion and an appropriate amount of cooking wine, simmer until the chestnuts and chicken are cooked through, and season with salt. Serve with meals, 1 to 2 times a week.
Effect: This meal is beneficial to qi and blood, strong body, healthy brain and nootropic, especially suitable for weak and weak, poor memory and other diseases and mental workers. ■
【Source: The content of this article is synthesized from the First Affiliated Hospital of Chinese Traditional Chinese Medicine and Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine]