🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Houttuynia herb, also known as Fish Mint, Jie Cai, or Jie'er Gen, is a perennial herb of the Saururaceae family. Its name comes from the fishy odor released when its stems and leaves are crushed. Houttuynia herb is widely distributed across southern China, as well as in parts of northwestern and northern China and Tibet. It commonly grows in shaded slopes, field edges, beside rivers, streams, and wet grasslands.
Houttuynia herb has a pungent and cold nature, offering functions such as clearing heat and detoxifying, reducing swelling and expelling pus, and promoting urination and relieving dysuria. It is used clinically for conditions including lung abscess, pulmonary heat cough, dysentery, urinary tract infections, excessive vaginal discharge, boils, and carbuncles. Thus, it frequently serves as a primary herb in traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions for lung diseases and urinary system disorders. Modern medicine has revealed deeper insights: the distinctive aroma mainly stems from houttuynin (decyl acetaldehyde), a key active component in houttuynia volatile oil. Houttuynin is the main antibacterial agent, showing significant inhibition against pathogens such as catarrhal cocci, influenza bacilli, pneumococci, and Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, houttuynia contains quercitrin and other effective components with antiviral and diuretic properties. Clinical practice confirms that houttuynia is effective for upper respiratory tract infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, chronic cervicitis, whooping cough, and provides certain benefits for acute conjunctivitis and urinary tract infections. Furthermore, houttuynia enhances immune function, increases white blood cell phagocytic capacity, and exhibits analgesic, antitussive, hemostatic, tissue regeneration-promoting, capillary dilation, and increased blood flow effects.
Houttuynia is a common wild vegetable. Wild houttuynia has a strong fishy smell, which many first-time consumers find unpalatable. Initially, those who ate it were mostly doctors aware of its medicinal properties. After being cultivated, houttuynia benefits from improved growing conditions, shorter growth cycles, faster development, thicker underground stems, increased starch content, reduced fiber, and milder flavor—making it tender, easy to digest, and more palatable.
Houttuynia’s strong antibacterial and antiviral properties make it ideal as a vegetable for preventing common summer ailments such as skin boils, bacterial dysentery, and heatstroke. Common ways of consumption include: 1) removing the hairy roots from the underground stem, washing thoroughly, cutting into 2–3 cm pieces (or adding tender leaves), mixing with vinegar, soy sauce, chili powder, and MSG for raw cold salad—crisp, refreshing, and strongly aromatic; 2) boiling, stewing, frying, or steaming the underground stem along with tender leaves—fragrant and delicate, with a slight fishy taste; 3) pickling into preserved vegetables—tangy, crisp, and appetizing.