🌿 Folk Prescriptions

First-boiled herbs are those that must be boiled first in the same prescription. These herbs are typically hard in texture, such as dragon bone, oyster shell, tortoise shell, softshell turtle shell, and mineral drugs, requiring boiling for half an hour or longer. Some contain toxicity, such as snake six-grain, raw Fu Zi, raw Chuanwu and Caowu, which must be boiled for two hours to reduce toxicity before adding other herbs in the same prescription.<pstyle="MARGIN-TOP:6px;MARGIN-LEFT:3px;MARGIN-RIGHT:3px;margin-botom:0">Wrapped herbs are those wrapped in gauze bags before boiling. These herbs either have fine hairs that are difficult to remove from the decoction and may irritate the throat when ingested, such as Inula flower and loquat leaf; or they contain sticky components that easily turn to paste when wet, sticking to the pot during boiling, such as Plantago seed, Descurainia seed, pills, powders, ointments, yeast, flour, and frost-like substances.<pstyle="MARGIN-TOP:6px;MARGIN-LEFT:3px;MARGIN-RIGHT:3px;margin-botom:0">Last-added herbs are added to the pot only when other herbs are nearly finished boiling. After stirring with chopsticks, cover tightly and boil for 2–3 minutes. These herbs contain abundant volatile oils, such as Amomum, Cardamom, Mint, Cinnamon, Sandalwood, and Rhubarb. Prolonged boiling would destroy their active ingredients, compromising efficacy.<pstyle="MARGIN-TOP:6px;MARGIN-LEFT:3px;MARGIN-RIGHT:3px;margin-botom:0">Dissolved-in-melt herbs need not be boiled together with other herbs but are separately melted and dissolved for oral administration. These are mainly gelatinous animal-derived products—skins, bones, shells, horns—processed into solid gel forms, such as donkey-hide gelatin, tortoise-shell gelatin, deer-horn gelatin. Melting prevents the active ingredients from being absorbed by the residue. Method: Place the gelatin in a bowl, add 30–50 ml boiling water, then steam over boiling water until fully melted. Mix the melted gelatin solution evenly with the prepared decoction before drinking.<pstyle="MARGIN-TOP:6px;MARGIN-LEFT:3px;MARGIN-RIGHT:3px;margin-botom:0">Steeped herbs, also called soaked herbs, are light in weight, small in quantity, and rich in volatile oils, such as Saffron and Cinnamon. Method: Pour half a cup of hot water or a portion of already-decocted liquid over the herb while hot, cover tightly to minimize volatile component loss, and drink once cooled. Zhang Luqun