Five Juice Drink for Phlegm Reduction and Fire Clearance
Origin: "Treatise on Warm Diseases"
Composition: Equal amounts of pear juice, water chestnut juice, fresh reed root juice, ophiopogon juice, lotus root juice (or sugarcane juice).
Preparation and Usage:
Mix equal parts of the above ingredients according to need, blend well, and consume cool.
Function: For residual heat in warm diseases, dry mouth, and thirst.
Commentary: Each ingredient in Five Juice Drink is freshly extracted. Pear is sweet and sour, cold in nature. "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Moistens lungs, cools heart, dissolves phlegm, reduces fire." "Compendium of Herbal Medicine": "Raw, it clears heat from six fu organs; cooked, it nourishes yin of five zang organs." Sweet and juicy, it is highly favored for its ability to generate body fluids and quench thirst. Water chestnut is also sweet and cold, abundant in juice, capable of clearing heat and generating body fluids. "Revised Compendium of Herbal Medicine": "Cools heart, reduces fire, nourishes lungs, and cools liver." Reed root (Phragmites) is sweet and cold. "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Sweetness nourishes the stomach, coldness reduces fire." It is a commonly used herb in TCM for clearing lung and stomach heat and generating body fluids. Ophiopogon is sweet with slight bitterness and mild coldness, capable of clearing and nourishing lung and stomach yin. "Correct Interpretation of Herbal Medicine" calls it "a superior tonic among sweet herbs." Lotus root is also sweet and cold, an excellent choice for clearing heat and generating body fluids. Commonly eaten at home, best when using large, tender, crisp roots. These five sweet, cold fresh ingredients, when juiced and combined, produce excellent effects in clearing heat, generating body fluids, and relieving thirst—especially suitable for those with thirst due to residual heat after febrile illness. Since it is consumed raw, great care must be taken to ensure hygiene during juice extraction.