Winter Melon
Winter melon is the fruit of the herbaceous plant winter melon in the Cucurbitaceae family. It has a pillow-like shape and is also called pillow melon. When fully ripe, the prickly hairs fall off and there is a layer of white waxy powder on the surface, with thick white flesh. Although it grows in summer, it looks like winter frost, hence the names winter melon and white melon. Winter melon is native to India and southern China, and has been recorded before the Qin and Han dynasties. It is cultivated all over China and harvested when the fruit is ripe in late summer or early autumn. Winter melon is mostly sown in spring and harvested in autumn or winter, with the majority being available in the market in May in the southern regions.
Winter melon contains protein, carbohydrates, ash, calcium, phosphorus, iron, carotene, vitamin C, thiamine, potassium, and sodium. It is the only melon that does not contain fat, and is rich in tartaric acid, which can inhibit the conversion of carbohydrates into fat. It also has a strong diuretic effect, which can enhance weight loss. Therefore, winter melon is known as the "weight loss melon".
Winter melon has the functions of promoting diuresis, resolving phlegm, clearing heat, generating fluid, and detoxifying. It is used to treat edema, athlete's foot, bloating, coughing, heatstroke, boils, and swellings, among other ailments.
Sponge Gourd
Sponge gourd, also known as Chinese okra, is the fruit of an annual climbing herb. It is sown in February and harvested in summer and autumn as a vegetable. The fruit is cylindrical, with a greenish white skin when young and a dark green longitudinal stripe; when fully ripe, the skin turns yellowish green and the flesh forms fibrous nets.
Sponge gourd is native to Indonesia and was introduced to China during the Tang and Song dynasties, becoming one of the commonly used vegetables. Sponge gourd contains various nutrients that are relatively high among fruits and vegetables, especially saponins, bitter substances, mucilage, gum, citrulline, xyloglucan, interferon, and other special substances with certain special effects. It has high medicinal value and can be used in its entirety for medicinal purposes.
Sponge gourd contains protein, fat, starch, sugars, vitamins, carotene, citrulline, saponins, as well as calcium, phosphorus, iron, and other nutrients.
Sponge gourd has the effects of clearing heat, resolving phlegm, cooling blood, detoxifying, relieving heat and restlessness, and regulating menstruation and collaterals. It is used to treat fever with thirst, phlegm with cough, intestinal wind, hemorrhoids, abscesses, boils, and women with insufficient lactation, among other ailments.
Mung Bean
Mung bean is the seed of the leguminous plant, with a green name derived from its green skin. It is a traditional bean food for the Chinese people. It is grown in most parts of the country, sown in March or April. The seedlings are about one foot tall with small, hairy leaves. It blooms in August or September with small flowers. The pods are similar to adzuki bean pods. When the pods are ripe in autumn, they are harvested, dried, the shells are removed, and the seeds are collected for later use. Mung bean has a wide range of uses and can be used to make mung bean cake and grow mung bean sprouts.
Mung bean contains abundant protein, carbohydrates, various vitamins, and minimal fat. Its protein content is more than three times that of polished rice, mainly globulin, as well as methionine, tryptophan, and tyrosine. The phospholipids include phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidic acid.
Mung bean has the effects of clearing heat, detoxifying, relieving heat and thirst, and promoting diuresis. It is used to treat fever or heat-induced symptoms such as restlessness, thirst, and fever; hot dysuria, urinary retention, edema, or damp-heat diarrhea; damp-heat skin rashes, boils, and swellings; and poisoning caused by drugs (such as fever drugs and pesticides), among other conditions.
Clam Meat
Clam meat refers to the flesh of bivalve mollusks in the family Unionidae. Its shell is hard and wedge-shaped, with a small pointed top and a dark brown shell surface with a bluish-gray sheen on the inside. It lives among shallow sea rocks. After being caught, the meat can be used fresh or processed into dried clam meat. Clam meat is highly nutritious, with protein content exceeding 59%, earning it the nickname "egg of the sea". It also contains unsaturated fatty acids, carbohydrates, riboflavin, niacin, as well as calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, manganese, cobalt, iodine, and other components. Clam meat with thick, firm, and glossy flesh is considered top quality and has a delicious taste.
Clam meat has a warming and salty nature and enters the liver and kidney meridians. It can nourish the liver and kidneys, regulate menstruation, warm the kidneys and dispel cold, eliminate scrofula, lower blood pressure, and regulate menstruation. The fishermen of Polynesian islands live on damp islands all year round and yet none of them suffer from rheumatism. This is closely related to their regular consumption of clam meat.
Watermelon
Watermelon is the fruit of the herbaceous watermelon plant in the Cucurbitaceae family. The flesh is juicy, and when ripe, it can be red, yellow, or white. The seeds are flat and can be black, white, red, gray, etc. It is harvested when the fruit is ripe in summer, except in a few cold regions of China where it is not cultivated.
Watermelon is native to Africa. During the Tang and Five Dynasties, someone brought back watermelon seeds from the Western Regions, hence the name watermelon. It has been cultivated in China for more than 1,500 years. Watermelon is one of the major fruits in summer, with a cool nature and sweet taste. It is the fruit with the highest juice content among melons and contains almost all the necessary nutrients for the human body. Eating watermelon in summer can not only replenish water but also stimulate appetite, aid digestion, diuretic, promote metabolism, relieve summer ailments, and nourish the body. Therefore, watermelon is an excellent fruit for relieving summer heat. The famous poet Wen Tianxiang of the Song Dynasty wrote a poem about watermelon: "Pull out the golden belt knife, cut open the jade bottle. A thousand red cherries, a lump of yellow crystal. It instantly eliminates the heat and smoke, and makes an ice and snow sound in the mouth. Chang'an's clear and wealthy people talk about Shao Ping, which is better than being an official in the Han Dynasty?"
Li Shizhen, a renowned pharmacologist in the Ming Dynasty, said that watermelon is full of treasures. Its skin, seeds, roots, and leaves can all be used as medicine. The most famous is watermelon frost, which has the effect of reducing swelling and is suitable for sore throat and mouth ulcers. Cut off the watermelon stem, remove some of the flesh, fill it with saltpeter, cover it with the cut-off stem, fix it with a bamboo skewer, and hang it in a cool and ventilated place. After more than 10 days, white frost will continuously form on the outside of the watermelon skin. The scraped-off white frost is the medicinal watermelon frost.
Fig
Fig got its name because the leaves of the fig tree are thick and green, and its flowers are very small and hidden by the branches and leaves, making them difficult to notice. By the time the fruit grows, the flowers have already fallen off, so people think it is "fruit without flowers", hence the name fig. Fig blooms in summer and bears fruit in autumn. The fruit is round or oval, and when ripe, the top cracks open and the flesh becomes soft and sweet like a banana. It is native to southern Arabia and later spread to Syria, Turkey, and other areas. Currently, it is most cultivated in coastal countries along the Mediterranean.
Fig fruit is rich in sugars, protein, amino acids, vitamins, various mineral elements, and other beneficial active ingredients for the human body.
Fig has the functions of invigorating the spleen and promoting digestion, lubricating the intestines and relieving constipation, relieving throat swelling, detoxification, and anti-cancer. It is used to treat indigestion, constipation, hemorrhoids, dysentery, malaria, diarrhea, bleeding, urinary bleeding, excessive menstruation, abdominal pain caused by roundworms, and other ailments.
Plum
Plum is the immature fruit of the rosaceous plant plum. The fruit is spherical and is mainly cultivated in the southern regions of China. Plum contains protein, fat, carbohydrates, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, citric acid, malic acid, lemon acid, succinic acid, and other components.
Plum has the effects of nourishing the lungs and stopping coughing, generating body fluids and relieving thirst, astringing the intestines and stopping diarrhea, and relieving pain caused by roundworms. It is used to treat chronic cough due to lung deficiency, restless heat and thirst, chronic diarrhea, malaria, dysentery, hemorrhoids, bloody stools, uterine bleeding, abdominal pain caused by roundworms, and other conditions. Plum has inhibitory effects on Escherichia coli, Shigella, Salmonella typhi, Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and various skin fungi, as well as the ability to contract the gallbladder, promote bile secretion, and have certain anti-allergic effects. Plum is high in potassium and low in sodium, making it suitable for people who take diuretics for a long time.
Preserving plum in white sugar, commonly known as white sugar plum, and eating 1 to 2 white sugar plums per day can not only relieve thirst but also prevent intestinal infectious diseases.
