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TCM Treasures Hericium
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SIMPLIFIED Chinese: 猴头菌 Pinyin: hóu tóu jūn
Hericium, with its delicious taste and reinforcing function, is ranked together with the top Chinese cuisine ingredients like sea cucumber and bird’s nest. There are even proverbs suggesting that people can renew their youth if they eat hericium often.
Hericium looks like a ball with hairy fibers and grows in tall trees. It resembles a monkey’s head in the distance, which has gained it the name of “hou tou jun,” which literally means monkey’s head mushroom.
Fresh hericium is usually white and gradually turns yellow and brown when naturally dried out. It is often found in rainy seasons and can weigh more than 5 kilos.
Legend suggests that the hericium were transformed from a monkey couple expelled to remote forests by the monkey king. They hid on tall trees to avoid attacks by other animals, yet still failed to survive the cold winter, and became hericium on the trees.
Hericium is a valuable fungus in TCM. It is a “neutral” herb that travels through the liver and stomach meridians. It can help benefit the digestive system, reinforce energy and soothe nerves. It is also often used to relieve various digestive problems like ulcer, inflammation and abdominal distension. Nowadays it’s also used to fight cancer in the digestive system.
It can be cooked together with other reinforcing foods as dietary therapies, while the effective constituent of hericium is also extracted into patented drugs widely used to tackle digestive problems.
Prescriptions & Usage:
For indigestion
Soak 60g dried hericium soft and chop it into thin slices. Cook decoction with the slices. Drink it twice a day. It works better when drinking together with 10ml yellow wine.
Benefits: Helps benefit stomach and improve digestion.
For nervous breakdown
Chop 150g dried hericium into pieces.
Cook chicken soup with the hericium and a chicken. Drink a bowl of the soup twice a day.
Benefits: Helps soothe nerves.
For stomach ulcer
Cook decoction with 30g dried hericium.
Divide it into two portions. Drink twice a day.
Benefits: Helps benefit stomach.
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