Four types of Chinese herbal medicines should be wrapped for decoction
【Light and floating texture Chinese herbal medicines】
Some small, soft, and light Chinese herbal medicines that do not sink in water, such as dodder seeds, tianli seeds, difuzi, shechuangzi, fennel, and heshi, are easily floated on the water surface during decoction and are difficult to fully cook. As a result, the yield of effective ingredients is relatively reduced, and it also brings difficulties to filter the herbal juice. Therefore, it is necessary to wrap them with gauze during decoction.
【Chinese herbal medicines with hair or impurities】
The back of loquat leaves is densely covered with brown hairs, the stems of astilbe are covered with star-shaped hairs, and the leaves are covered with star-shaped scales. Silkworm sand often contains mud, broken mulberry branches and leaves, etc. If these herbal medicines are not wrapped, they are prone to mix into the soup, which can irritate the throat and digestive tract when taken. For safety reasons, they should be wrapped for decoction.
【Chinese herbal medicines with viscous liquid】
Baiji, shenqu, and dandouchi are Chinese herbal medicines with viscous liquid. Firstly, they are prone to stick to the pot; secondly, it is difficult to filter them; thirdly, they can easily cause loss of effective ingredients by adsorbing the residue; fourthly, they can cause nausea when taken due to the sticky feeling in the mouth. To avoid these disadvantages, they should be wrapped for decoction.
【Chinese herbal medicines that easily cause turbid liquid】
Generally, mineral and shell-like herbal medicines should be crushed and decocted first to increase their solubility, such as gypsum and daizheshi. However, these herbal medicines can easily make the soup turbid, which is not conducive to consumption. Therefore, they should be wrapped for decoction.
How long can the decocted Chinese herbal medicine be stored?
When prescribing Chinese herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine doctors usually prescribe a 4-7 day supply, and for patients with chronic diseases, they may prescribe a two-week supply at a time. Many patients choose to have all the Chinese herbal medicine decocted at the hospital or pharmacy and then store the decocted herbal soup in the refrigerator. So, how long can the decocted Chinese herbal medicine be stored in the refrigerator?
Firstly, we need to understand the packaging form of the decocted Chinese herbal medicine. Currently, the most common packaging for decocted Chinese herbal medicine is vacuum-sealed packaging, and it can also be packed in containers provided by the patients themselves.
We found that different hospitals and pharmacies provide different instructions for the storage time of the sealed vacuum packaging. There has been research on storing different prescriptions under different temperature conditions, and by observing the degree of deterioration of the herbal juice, recording parameters such as odor, turbidity, mold growth, and acidity. The results showed that the higher the temperature, the faster the deterioration of the herbal juice. In seasons with higher temperatures, when the room temperature is above 25℃, the general decocted soup should not be stored for more than 2 days at room temperature. If refrigerated, it can generally be stored for 7 days without deterioration. In addition, even under the same conditions, different prescriptions have different degrees of deterioration. If the herbal juice contains a high content of starch, protein, sugar, etc., it will deteriorate faster.
To ensure the safety of medication, the optimal temperature for storing vacuum-sealed packaged decocted Chinese herbal medicine is 0-5℃, and the storage time is 7-14 days, but it is best not to exceed 7 days. On one hand, after the herbal soup is cooked, it is usually kept at room temperature for half a day to a day before refrigeration, which will "accelerate" the deterioration of the soup. On the other hand, if the decocted soup contains animal-based Chinese herbal medicines such as scorpion and centipede, or Chinese herbal medicines with high sugar content, such as shoudi and huangqi, it will also affect the storage time. If the liquid bag is bulging or the liquid has a strange smell, bubbles, and other abnormal phenomena, it indicates deterioration and should not be consumed.
