霜降 (Shuang Jiang) is the last solar term of autumn. After it, the weather gradually becomes colder. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that the period after Shuang Jiang is the best time to harvest mulberry leaves. So, what are the benefits of mulberry leaves harvested after Shuang Jiang? Let's take a look!
Whitening and Beautifying
Mulberry leaves harvested after Shuang Jiang are often extracted and added to skincare products as beauty ingredients. This is because these leaves contain vitamins, minerals, amino acids, organic acids, phenolic substances, flavonoids, and other components that can regulate skin metabolism and improve pigmentation.
Recommendation: Wash your face with mulberry leaf water every morning and evening. After sticking to this routine for half a month, you will notice a significant lightening of facial spots.
Blood Sugar Regulation
Mulberry leaves harvested after Shuang Jiang contain a substance called alkaloid, which can inhibit the breakdown of sucrase and thus play a role in preventing and treating diabetes.
Recommendation: People with high blood sugar can brew about 15 grams of dried mulberry leaves into tea daily to help lower blood sugar.
Weight Loss and Slimming
Mulberry leaf tea harvested after Shuang Jiang has diuretic and dampness-eliminating effects. Regular consumption of this tea can promote urination and eliminate excess water stored in cells. Over time, it can help with dampness elimination, reducing swelling, and achieving weight loss and slimming effects.
Recommendation: Brew mulberry leaves harvested after Shuang Jiang as tea and drink it daily. Long-term consumption will yield visible results.
Nourishing Hair
Mulberry leaves harvested after Shuang Jiang are rich in high-quality proteins, dietary fiber, carbohydrates, as well as calcium, phosphorus, iron, manganese, and other nutrients. Long-term use can nourish the hair.
Internal Use
Soak 10-20 grams of mulberry leaves harvested after Shuang Jiang and 15 grams of Poria cocos in water and drink it as a substitute for tea.
External Use
Wash your hair with 20 grams of mulberry leaf water 2-3 times a week. This can promote hair growth and make your hair dark, soft, and shiny.
Blood Pressure Reduction
Mulberry leaves harvested after Shuang Jiang contain a substance called quercetin, which can dilate coronary blood vessels, improve myocardial circulation, promote brain tissue metabolism and restore brain cell function, improve blood flow in the brain, enhance the activity of angiotensin-converting enzyme I, and lower blood pressure.
How to Use Mulberry Leaves Harvested After Shuang Jiang
Raw Use
1. Wind-Heat Cold
It is often used in combination with chrysanthemum, forsythia, and balloonflower to enhance the effect of dispelling wind and clearing heat. It can treat fever, dizziness, headache, cough, and sore throat caused by external wind and heat, such as in the "mulberry chrysanthemum drink".
2. Red and Swollen Eyes
It is often used in combination with chrysanthemum, cassia seed, and plantago seed to disperse wind and clear fire. It can treat red and swollen eyes, or excessive tearing caused by wind-heat invasion, headache, and dizziness.
3. Dizziness
It is often used in combination with black sesame to nourish the liver and kidneys, clear heat, and improve vision. It can be used for dizziness, tinnitus, dim vision, and other symptoms caused by liver and kidney yin deficiency, such as in the "mulberry sesame pill".
Processed Use
1. External Dry Heat
It is often used in combination with apricot kernel, fritillaria, fermented soybeans, and gardenia peel to clear heat, disperse and moisten dryness. It can treat fever, headache, thirst, and dry cough without phlegm caused by external dry heat. It can also be used alone, honey-roasted and decocted, to treat thirst in children.
2. Warm and Dry Injury to the Lungs
It is often used in combination with gypsum, apricot kernel, ginseng, dwarf lilyturf tuber, loquat leaf, and donkey-hide gelatin to clear dryness and moisten the lungs. It can be used for warm and dry injury to the lungs, headache, fever, dry cough without phlegm, reversed qi, panting, dry throat, chest fullness, rib pain, and restlessness and thirst. When combined with butterflybush flower, rehmannia, cicada slough, red peony root, and licorice, it can treat cough due to throat origin, such as in the "mulberry butterflybush decoction".
Mulberry Leaf and Goji Berry Tea
Ingredients: Fresh mulberry leaves, fresh common knotgrass, fresh goji berry sprouts
Instructions: Use twice the amount of mulberry leaves compared to the other two herbal ingredients. After washing all the herbs, put them in a pot with water and boil them for consumption.
Recommendation: The main functions of this tea are heat-clearing, detoxification, and diuresis. It is suitable for consumption in summer.
Mulberry Leaf and Chrysanthemum Green Bean Tea
Ingredients: Winter mulberry leaves, chrysanthemum, green beans, white sugar
Instructions: Put all the herbs together in a pot and boil them for consumption.
Recommendation: The main functions of this tea are liver-clearing and vision improvement. After consumption, it has anti-inflammatory and wind-clearing effects. It is commonly used to treat acute conjunctivitis with excellent results.
Mulberry Leaf, Chrysanthemum, and Hawthorn Tea
Ingredients: Mulberry leaves, chrysanthemum, hawthorn, honeysuckle
Instructions: Put all the ingredients in a cup, then brew with hot water four times. Each time should last for about fifteen minutes. Then, drink it instead of regular tea.
Recommendation: You can drink this tea every day to prevent and treat conditions such as hypertension, high cholesterol, and atherosclerosis.
Mulberry Leaf and Chrysanthemum Tea
Ingredients: Dried mulberry leaves and dried chrysanthemum flowers in equal amounts
Instructions: Put them together in a cup and brew with hot water. Drink it instead of regular tea.
Recommendation: This tea is suitable for patients with wind-heat cold, and it has a good cooling and relieving effect.
