Summer Use of Hyacinth Bean to Eliminate Summer Heat and Dampness
Traditional Chinese medicine considers hyacinth bean neutral in nature and sweet in flavor. Its functions include strengthening the spleen and harmonizing the middle energizer, eliminating summer heat and dampness, nourishing the stomach and lowering qi, tonifying deficiency and stopping diarrhea. It is not only an excellent remedy for conditions like summer heat-dampness-induced vomiting and diarrhea, spleen deficiency-related nausea, poor appetite, chronic diarrhea, fluid retention causing thirst, leukorrhea, pediatric malnutrition, fetal instability, and alcohol-induced vomiting, but also a valuable herb for treating summer heat-dampness invasion, dysentery, and enteritis. Here are several proven dietary remedies for reference:
Yam Porridge: Use 18 grams of hyacinth beans, 24 grams each of yam and glutinous rice, and appropriate brown sugar. Cook together into porridge, add brown sugar to melt before consumption. Take once daily. Function: Strengthening the spleen and stopping diarrhea, resolving dampness and stopping leukorrhea. Suitable for spleen deficiency diarrhea and leukorrhea.
Hyacinth Bean and Hawthorn Cake: Use 250 grams of hyacinth beans, 100 grams of sugar, 15 grams each of raisins and hawthorn cake, and a little sugar osmanthus. Soak hyacinth beans, remove skins, cook until soft, add sugar and dissolve, then sprinkle with hawthorn cake, raisins, and sugar osmanthus. Consume on an empty stomach, one dose per day divided into three portions. Function: Strengthening the spleen, resolving dampness, cooling and harmonizing the center. Suitable for diarrhea, vomiting, poor appetite due to spleen-stomach weakness, and excessive leukorrhea in women.
Single-Hyacinth Bean Decoction: Use 50–100 grams of hyacinth beans, boil in water, consume both liquid and beans. Take once daily. Function: Solidifying the fetus and stopping leukorrhea. Suitable for leukorrhea, fetal instability, and nausea.
Hyacinth Bean and Rice Porridge: Use 24 grams of hyacinth beans, 30 grams each of lotus seeds and glutinous rice. Cook into porridge. One dose daily, divided into 1–2 servings. Function: Clearing heat, eliminating summer heat, nourishing and strengthening the body. Suitable for postpartum or post-illness weakness.
Two-Bean Yam Porridge: Use 15 grams of hyacinth beans, 20 grams each of red adzuki beans, yam, and glutinous rice, 18 grams of coix seed, half a fresh lotus leaf, and a few strands of lotus stem (wrapped in gauze). Boil all ingredients in clean water over low heat until beans are soft. Remove lotus stem and consume on an empty stomach. Take once daily. Function: Clearing summer heat and removing dampness. Suitable for fever, chills, diarrhea, vomiting, and poor appetite due to summer heat-dampness.
Hyacinth Bean and Jujube Drink: Use 15 grams of hyacinth beans, 12 jujubes. Boil in water, drink once daily for 3–5 consecutive days. Function: Moistening lungs and stopping cough. Suitable for infant whooping cough.
Hyacinth Bean and Coix Seed Powder: Use 100 grams of hyacinth beans, 50 grams of roasted coix seed. Grind both into fine powder, dry in oven or sun, store in a bottle. Take twice daily, 15 grams each time, with warm water. Function: Tonifying qi, strengthening the spleen, resolving dampness, and stopping diarrhea. Suitable for elderly people with spleen deficiency, poor digestion, and loose stools.