🌿 Folk Prescriptions

[Source] Practical Chinese Nutritional Medicine
[Composition] 10 grams bitter apricot kernel, 1 large duck pear, 20 grams rock sugar.
[Function] Moistens lungs and stops cough.
[Indication] Dryness in mouth, nose, and throat, thirst, dry cough without phlegm or with little sticky phlegm difficult to expectorate.
[Preparation] First remove skins and tips from apricot kernels, crush. Wash duck pear, keep skin on but remove core, cut into chunks. Add water, boil until cooked, add rock sugar until dissolved. Drink as tea, anytime.
[Comment] Apricot kernels: bitter, slightly warm, mildly toxic. Have functions of descending qi, relieving cough, and calming asthma. According to "Zhenzhu Nang": "Removes lung heat, treats upper-jiao wind-dryness, improves chest obstruction due to reversed qi, and moistens the large intestine for constipation." The amygdalin in apricot kernels slowly decomposes in the body after oral intake, releasing trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide, which has a sedative effect on the respiratory center, calming respiration and achieving anti-cough and anti-asthmatic effects. However, due to mild toxicity, excessive dosage must be avoided. Duck pear: sweet and slightly sour, cool in nature. Has functions of generating body fluids, moistening dryness, clearing heat, and transforming phlegm. "It moistens the lungs, cools the heart, clears phlegm, lowers fire, and resolves skin sores and alcohol toxicity," according to Compendium of Materia Medica. Rock sugar can tonify the middle energizer, strengthen qi, harmonize the stomach, moisten the lungs, stop cough, and transform phlegm. Combined, these three herbs effectively moisten the lungs and stop cough. Thus, this tea is highly effective for cough with little sticky phlegm and difficult expectoration caused by lung dryness.
<Moistening Lungs and Stopping Cough>