🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Spring has arrived, and flowers bloom everywhere. Fashionable women, why not take advantage of this season to inhale the fragrance of blossoms and experience the romance and beauty flowers bring to your mouth?
In popular perception, flowers are meant for viewing, not eating. Yet, in fact, eating flowers has been quite popular in Western countries for years, and in Japan, it has become a high-end consumption trend.

Due to advanced technology in these nations, edible flowers can be mass-produced through artificial cultivation, making flower-eating a growing fashion. In China, although large-scale cultivated edible flowers are still limited, many regions possess abundant wild edible flowers. These flowers are not only beautiful and fragrant but also highly nutritious. For example, chrysanthemums, known as the “flower of longevity,” help soften arterial vessels and delay aging. Lily flowers are hailed as a beauty expert—regular consumption improves skin texture and circulation, making facial skin smooth and delicate. Today, dishes made from these flowers are naturally gaining popularity.
Chrysanthemum Porridge: Long used by traditional physicians, the "Shennong Herbal Classic" lists it among top-tier herbs, stating: “Long-term use benefits blood and qi, enhances complexion, lightens the body, and delays aging.” Grind dried chrysanthemum into fine powder, cook 50–100 grams of glutinous rice into porridge, then add 10–15 grams of chrysanthemum before boiling again. Chrysanthemum has a refreshing aroma, helping to refresh the mind, clear liver function, improve eyesight, and detoxify.
Lotus Porridge: Combine 15 grams of lotus flowers with rice and water, then simmer into porridge. Lotus helps eliminate dampness, ideal for spring’s humid weather. Drinking lotus porridge strengthens the spleen, stops diarrhea, beautifies skin, removes spots, and clears heat and humidity.
Albizia Flower Porridge: Offers excellent strengthening, calming, sedative, and beautifying effects, and is an excellent remedy for neurasthenia. Prepare by boiling 30 grams of dried albizia flowers (or 50 grams fresh) with 100 grams of glutinous rice and appropriate rock sugar in 500 ml water until thickened. Consume warm before bedtime. Albigia flower porridge is sweet and delicious, and regular consumption promotes relaxation, beauty, vitality, and longevity.
Cauliflower Porridge: Cauliflower contains various vitamins, carotene, and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, and iron, enhancing liver detoxification, supporting growth and development, and refining skin. Cook 50 grams fresh cauliflower (or 10 grams dried) with 50–100 grams of glutinous rice and suitable rock sugar in 500 ml water over low heat. Once porridge thickens, add a small amount of cooking oil until surface appears oily. Eat twice daily. Cauliflower porridge is fragrant, sweet, and refreshing, offering mild moisturizing benefits.
Jasmine Winter Melon Soup: Add jasmine flowers while cooking winter melon soup. Jasmine helps relieve fatigue, soothe emotions, and prevent colds. Traditional Chinese medicine believes jasmine clears heat, eliminates dampness, strengthens the spleen, stops diarrhea, calms the heart, and relieves irritability. Those prone to heatiness or poor appetite should consume more jasmine flowers.
Star-of-Bethlehem Dessert: Boil a small amount of star-of-bethlehem flowers with water, then dissolve rock sugar. Star-of-bethlehem helps prevent colds and treats sore throats, possessing functions to clear heat, relieve throat pain, relax tendons, and promote circulation. Regular consumption clears heat and toxins, dispels wind-dampness.
Lily Flower Dishes: Lilies have high nutritional value and have long been considered delicacies. They can be prepared in numerous ways—stir-fried, pan-fried, braised, steamed, or boiled—yielding over 30 high-quality dishes. Among the most renowned are Lily Snow Lotus, Candied Lilies, and Sweet Lily Soup.
Notably, these flowers can be purchased at tea shops. Eating flowers in spring is not only fashionable but also healthy.