Doctors and pharmacists often overlook the special decoction methods for certain medications when preparing traditional Chinese medicine. Even at the grassroots level, some traditional Chinese medicine practitioners have abandoned these special decoction methods.
1. Simmering with Wine
For example, in the recipe for Baked Licorice Decoction, the original formula calls for simmering with 7 liters of rice wine and 8 liters of water. The purpose of simmering with wine is to promote the circulation of Qi and blood, open the meridians, harmonize Yin and Yang, and enhance the therapeutic effects of the herbs. Adding wine to tonifying Yin or Qi and blood formulas can help to facilitate the movement of the herbal properties, achieving the goal of tonification without stagnation. Baked Licorice Decoction is commonly used to treat conditions such as Qi deficiency and blood deficiency with pulse stagnation and palpitations. Adding rice wine while decocting not only enhances the effects of promoting heart Yang and blood circulation, but also helps to eliminate the greasy nature of nourishing Yin herbs. In addition, wine is a good solvent, so simmering with wine allows the active ingredients in the formula to be dissolved to the maximum extent.
2. Simmering with Honey
For example, in the recipe for Chest Relief Pills, white honey is added to the formula. The purpose of adding honey is fourfold: to moderate the strong properties of the pills, protect the stomach Qi, provide a sweet and moistening effect to assist the main herbs, and to correct the taste. According to "Compendium of Materia Medica," honey has five functions when used in medicine: clearing heat, tonifying the middle, detoxifying, moistening dryness, and relieving pain. It also has a synergistic effect with licorice. It harmonizes the nourishing herbs, moistens the five Zang organs, opens the three Jiao, and nourishes the spleen and stomach. Nowadays, some doctors often omit honey in their prescriptions, which is a pity as it may affect the maximum therapeutic effect of the formula.
3. Cooking Rice until It's Fully Cooked
For example, in recipes such as White Tiger Decoction, White Tiger Decoction with Ginseng, White Tiger Decoction with Cinnamon Twig, Bamboo Leaf Gypsum Decoction, and Ophiopogon Decoction, they all have the note "Cook rice until it's fully cooked." The purpose of cooking rice until it's fully cooked is to use glutinous rice, which has a sweet and neutral nature, to nourish the spleen and stomach and protect the Yin of the spleen and lungs. It also helps to slow down the cold and descending properties of other herbs in the formula, allowing the therapeutic effects to be sustained in the middle and upper Jiao. Glutinous rice is a variety of food and medicine, mainly used as a prescription "missing link" in most pharmacies. When doctors or pharmacists prescribe formulas with glutinous rice, they usually instruct the patient to add a handful of rice from their own rice bag to the herbs for decoction. When prescribing formulas with glutinous rice, "add a handful of rice" has become a common phrase for doctors or pharmacists, and few of them inform the patient to "cook the rice until it's fully cooked" for decoction.
4. Soaking with Boiling Water
For example, in the formula Da Huang and Huang Lian Decoction for Purging the Heart, the note at the end of the formula states, "Soak the above two herbs with boiling water, strain after a while, and take warm." The reason for soaking with boiling water is that rhubarb and coptis have a strong and heavy nature. After long decoction, they mainly affect the intestines and stomach, causing a purgative effect. Therefore, this formula does not require the usual decoction method; instead, it is soaked in boiling water for a short time, and the juice is consumed immediately. This special decoction method helps to achieve the goal of removing invisible evil heat from the upper body by extracting the Qi and diluting the taste of the herbs. Similarly, in the use of Aconite Purging the Heart Decoction for treating "epigastric fullness, accompanied by aversion to cold and sweating," Zhongjing uses the method of soaking "San Huang" (three herbs containing aconite) with boiling water to clear the upper evil heat and achieve the effect of resolving stagnation and dissipating the fullness. Then, the aconite is "cooked separately to extract the juice" to enhance the warming and tonifying effect on the meridians and the surface.
5. Decoction with Removal of Sediment
For decoctions like Pinellia Decoction for Purging the Heart, Licorice Decoction for Purging the Heart, and Ginger Decoction for Purging the Heart, they are all harmonizing formulas used to regulate the middle, relieve stagnation, and resolve bloating. The note at the end of the formula states, "...cook with one dou of water until it reduces to six sheng, remove the sediment, and decoct again to obtain three sheng..." The phrase "remove the sediment and decoct again" means using the concentration method to reduce the volume of the herbs, so that the patient does not have to take too much medicine. The purpose is to enhance the remarkable effects of the "Three Decoctions for Purging the Heart" on harmonizing Yin and Yang, promoting ascending and descending, and adjusting deficiency and excess. The herbs are well-balanced, not too strong or too mild, making them more suitable for conditions with both superficial and internal manifestations, disorders in ascending and descending, and mixed cold and heat patterns.
6. Boil Aconite and Ginger First to Remove the Foam
In formulas such as Ephedra Decoction, Pueraria Decoction, Pueraria and Pinellia Decoction, Cinnamon Twig and Pueraria Decoction, Cinnamon Twig and Ephedra Decoction, Cinnamon Twig and Atractylodes Decoction, Ephedra, Almond, Gypsum, and Licorice Decoction, Pueraria, Scutellaria, Coptis, and Licorice Decoction, Lesser Blue Dragon Decoction, and Greater Blue Dragon Decoction, Zhongjing notes, "...boil Ephedra and Pueraria first, remove the foam, and then add the other herbs..." The purpose of this is not only to "remove the foam to prevent restlessness" and "moderate their properties," but also to increase the solubility of the herbs and enhance the clinical efficacy of the formulas.
