Di Yu is a traditional Chinese medicine that combines medicinal, culinary, and ornamental uses. It is typically harvested in the spring and summer, using tender shoots, stems, leaves, or flower spikes. After blanching in boiling water and soaking in clean water to remove bitterness, it is commonly used for stir-frying, making soups, and pickling vegetables.
Picture of Di Yu
Functions and Indications of Di Yu
Di Yu root is used as a medicinal herb and has a slightly cold nature and a bitter taste.
Modern medical research has shown that Di Yu has the effects of stopping bleeding, cooling blood, clearing heat, detoxification, astringing, stopping diarrhea, and inhibiting various pathogenic microorganisms and tumors.
It can be used to treat conditions such as hematemesis, bloody dysentery, burns, eczema, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, massive hemorrhage due to peptic ulcers, rectal bleeding, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, tuberculous abscesses, and chronic osteomyelitis.
Recipe for Di Yu Pig Trotter Soup
Ingredients: 15g each of Fang Feng (Saposhnikovia divaricata), Di Yu, and Huai Jiao (Sophora japonica), 1 section of pig intestine, and seasoning to taste.
Preparation: Clean the herbs and pig intestine. Put the herbs into the pig intestine and cook in a pot until done. Remove the herbs, slice the pig intestine, and put it back into the soup. Season and bring to a boil.
Effects: It can dispel wind and stop bleeding, suitable for hemorrhoids with bleeding.
Contraindications of Di Yu
1. It should be used with caution in cases of cold-type bleeding, diarrhea, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, and bleeding with blood stasis.
2. Pregnant women and children should use it with caution.
3. It should not be used alone in the early stages of dysentery with heat.
4. This herb contains tannins and should not be used in combination with aureomycin, tetracycline, lincomycin, and other drugs.
5. It is contraindicated in cases of wheat allergy.
6. It should not be used in cases of gastric injury.
Methods of Consuming Di Yu
Daily dosage: 8-12g, decocted in water or made into pills or powder. For external use, apply an appropriate amount of powdered Di Yu to the affected area.
