What should you pay attention to when decoction of Chinese medicine?

　　When people need to take traditional Chinese medicine, they often ask a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner or cook it themselves at home. But when frying, we cannot control it well, which often prevents the effect of the medicine from being fully exerted. So when Chinese medicine decoctions traditional Chinese medicine, what aspects should be mastered to facilitate the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine?

　　1. Mastering the heat is the key

　　Traditional Chinese medicine can be divided into "Wu Huo" (large fire) and "Wen Huo" (low fire). This is very scientific. Generally, boil the medicine over high heat first, and then change to low heat to prevent the concoction from overflowing and drying out too quickly. For medicines that are light in texture, can be dispersed, and are easily volatile, such as flowers, stems, leaves, etc., fry them over high heat. After boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. For medicines that are heavy, have sedimentation and nourishing properties, such as roots, lumps, minerals, etc., boil them over high heat and then simmer over low heat for about 50 minutes to fully dissolve the active ingredients in the medicine.

　　The toxicity of some traditional Chinese medicines, such as aconitum, aconite, etc., can only be reduced or eliminated by slow decoction over low heat. Tablet-relieving medicines, heat-clearing medicines, and aromatic medicines should be fried quickly over high heat. Otherwise, the active ingredients will be lost too much or their medicinal properties will be changed. In addition, in the specific prescription, you will also see the decoction first, then the next step, the decoction in the package, the boiling, the decoction separately, the soaking, the infusion, etc. These special requirements have been explained previously.

　　2. Choosing a container is very important

　　It is advisable to use casseroles, earthen pots or enamel pots, and avoid using metal pots such as iron pots and copper pots. First, soak the medicine in cold water to soften it so that the active ingredients can easily penetrate into the water. Add water two fingertips above the surface of the medicine. The soaking time is about 20 minutes for medicines based on flowers, leaves, and stems; about 30 minutes for medicines based on roots, seeds, and fruits; and up to 60 minutes for medicines based on animals. The soaking time for drugs to dispel external pathogenic factors should be short, while the soaking time for tonic drugs for internal injuries should be long.

　　3. Pay attention to filtering the medicinal juice

　　First, you should remove the fried medicine pot from the fire for 3 minutes and then filter the medicine juice. Do not wait for the medicine liquid to cool before taking the juice, because the active ingredients of some medicines turn into large particles after cooling and are easy to precipitate and are discarded. When filtering medicine, you must use a gauze mesh to remove impurities in the medicine juice. Especially for medicines with villi, which can easily irritate the patient's throat and cause coughing and nausea. Filtering medicine through gauze is very beneficial.

　　Understanding the above-mentioned heat, containers and processes for decoction of traditional Chinese medicine is an important guarantee for maximizing the effectiveness of the medicine.

　　Warm reminder: pay attention to frying first and then cooking

　　“The purpose of "decocting first" is usually to increase the solubility of certain drugs or reduce the toxicity of drugs; and "decocting later" is to reduce the loss of volatile oil and avoid the destruction of active ingredients.

　　Usually minerals, such as shellfish and hornbeans, must be fried first to extract their active ingredients due to their hard texture. For example, gypsum, cassia, turtle shell, turtle shell, etc. can be broken into pieces and fried for 30 minutes, and then other medicinal materials can be added to cook together. Some toxic drugs, such as Aconitum, Aconite, Phytolacca, etc., must be fried for 1 to 2 hours to achieve attenuation or detoxification. In addition, some botanicals, such as tianzhuhuang, hemp seeds, dendrobium, etc., also need to be fried for 10 to 30 minutes before they can be effective.

　　The medicines to be added later include those with fragrant smell and high volatile oil content, such as mint, patchouli, cardamom, amomum villosum, and some medicines that are not suitable for long-term decoction, such as Uncaria and almonds, etc. They should be added to the pot 5 to 10 minutes before the decoction is cooked.