Salt cured Huang Bo (Cork tree bark)

1. Extraction . . . . 'Cortex Phellodendri'

Huang Bo is grown at GAP farms in Sichuan and Guizhou provinces.

Bark is stripped from the tree and a layer of cork is then separated from its tough outer skin. The cork is then dried, flattened, soaked in water and then sliced into strips.

It is bitter and cold in property and acts on the Kidney and Bladder meridians.

2. Production

The Huang Bo strips are then transported to a GMP factory in Sichuan.

The crude herb is mixed with and left to soak in salt at a ratio of 2kg of salt per 100kg of Huang Bo. The crude mixture is yellowish and crisp with a bitter flavour.

After stir-frying over a soft heat, the cooked herb turns a darker colour with carbonized spots and retains its bitter flavour.

3. Distribution

GSP's sell Huang Bo into hospitals, pharmacies and online.

It is difficult to find Huang Bo in its pure form, rather - it tends to be mixed with other herbs such as Angelica and Licorice then marketed as a skin purifier.

Average online price - around $20 per 100 pills.

4. Consumption

Salt cured Huang Bo
- drains damp heat from the lower jiao - thick-yellow leukorrhea, foul-smelling diarrhea, dysentery; damp-heat pouring downward or hot leg qi - red, swollen, painful knees, legs, and/or feet; damp-heat jaundice.
- drains Kidney fire with signs of yin deficiency such as steaming bone disorder, night sweats, afternoon fever and sweating, nocturnal emissions, spermatorrhea.
- drains fire and relieves toxicity - sores and lesions of the skin such as eczema.

In general TCM terms, processed Huang Bo tonifies Kidney yin and removes asthenic fever.


Medical thesaurus

• retain (v) - to keep
• purifier (n) - something that makes things pure
• leucorrhea (n) - a white/yellow discharge from the vagina
• dysentery (n) - an infection of the intestines causing severe diarrhea
• jaundice (n) - a yellow skin disease caused by excess bile in the blood
• deficiency (n) - when there is not enough of something
• steaming bone disorder (n) - a disease where heat bones are hot, yet skin remains dry
• nocturnal (adj.) - at night
• emission (n) - the flow of semen from the penis
• spermatorrhea (n) - an unintended emission
• relieve (v) - to take away
• lesion (n) - an area of damaged skin tissue
• eczema (n) - an itchy skin disease
• tonify (v) - to make stronger
• asthenic (adj.) - too weak
• sthenic (adj.) - too strong

the 5 elements in English

Wood

Yin organ - Liver

Yang organ - Gall Bladder

Positive emotion - kindness

Negative emotion - anger

Direction - East

Season - Spring

Sound - shouting

Taste - sour

Nourishes - nerves, tendons

Opens into - eyes

Expands into - nails

Temperature - warm and damp

Produces - tears

Colour - green

Vital control over - nervous system

Blood function - stores and filters

Qi function - warming effect

Food digestion - makes proteins, distributes nutrition, recycles poisons

Main function - control and decision making

Mental aspect - clarity









Fire

Yin organ - Heart

Yang organ - Small Intestine

Positive emotion - joy

Negative emotion - hate

Direction - South

Season - Summer

Sound - laughing

Taste - bitter

Nourishes - blood vessels and vascular system

Opens into - tongue

Expands into - face

Temperature - hot

Produces - sweat

Colour - red

Vital control over - blood, hormones and endocrine system

Blood function - circulation

Qi function - heating effect

Food digestion - absorbtion and selection of food in small
intestine

Main function - warmth, vitality and excitement

Mental aspect - intuition

Earth

Yin organ - Spleen/ Pancreas

Yang organ - Stomach

Positive emotion - open and fairness

Negative emotion - worry

Direction - Centre

Season - Late Summer

Sound - singing

Taste - sweet

Nourishes - muscles and flesh

Opens into - lips and mouth

Expands into - lips

Temperature - mild

Produces - saliva

Colour - yellow/brown

Vital control over - digestive, lymphatic and muscular systems

Blood function - stores and cleanses

Qi function - balances

Food digestion - monitors intake and sends energy to each organ according to taste

Main function - ability to integrate and balance

Mental aspect - spontaneity

Metal

Earth Yin organ - Lungs

Yang organ - Large Intestine

Positive emotion - courage

Negative emotion - depression

Direction - West

Season - Fall/Autumn

Sound - weeping

Taste - spicy, pungent

Nourishes - skin

Opens into - nose

Expands into - body hair

Temperature - cool and dry

Produces - mucous

Colour - white

Vital control over - respiratory system

Blood function - oxygenates and eliminates CO2

Qi function - cooling and drying effect

Food digestion - eliminates through Large Intestine

Main function - strength and stability

Mental aspect - emotional sensitivity

Water

Yin organ - Kidneys

Yang organ - Bladder

Positive emotion - gentleness

Negative emotion - fear

Direction - North

Season - Winter

Sound - groaning

Taste - salty

Nourishes - bones, teeth

Opens into - ears

Expands into - head hair

Temperature - cold

Produces - urine

Colour - black/ dark blue

Vital control over - reproductive and urinary system

Blood function - produces blood in the bone marrow

Qi function - chilling effect

Food digestion - monitoring

Main function - ambition and willpower

Mental aspect - will power and creativity

Wine cured Chuan Xiong (Lovage root)

1. Extraction . . . 'Rhizoma Chuanxiong'

.

Lovage plant is harvested in Sichuan province by GAP producers in May.

It is warm and pungent in property and acts on the liver, gall bladder and pericardium meridians.

2. Production

The Lovage plant tuber is cleaned, dried in the sun, stripped of its fibrous root, then cut into slices at a GMP factory.

100kg of the crude herb is sprayed and soaked in 10kg of yellow wine, then stir-fried on a soft flame until dark yellow and crispy with crinkled/polygonal annulations.

3. Distribution

GSP's sell the products into hospitals, pharmacies and online.
Average online price - $8.00 per 200 pills.

4. Consumer

Crude herb activates blood and promotes qi flow.

Wine cured Chuan Xiong also activates blood and qi flow as well as dispelling wind and removing pain caused by evil heat.

In TCM terms, this medicine treats aversion to cold and fever, dizziness, nasal obstruction, thin and whitish lingual fur, and superficial and slippery pulse due to exogenous pathogenic wind.

Medical Thesaurus

• fibrous (adj.)- containing fibres
• crude (adj.)- raw/uncooked
• crinkled polygonal annulations (adj. + n)- wavy lines on the cooked Lovage root
• pungent (adj.)- a strong, sharp smell
• activate (v)- to start
• dispel (v)- to get rid of
• aversion (n)- dislike
• nasal obstruction (adj. + n)- blocked nose
• lingual (adj.)- tongue area
• superficial (adj.)- false or minor indication, usually near skin surface
• slippery (adj.)- not precise or fixed
• exogenous (adj.)- causes that come from outside the body
• endogenous (adj.)- causes that come from inside the body
• pathogenic (adj.)- capable of causing disease

Wine cured Da huang (Rhubarb root)

1. Extraction . . . 'Radix et Rhizoma Rhe'

Whole, mature, rhubarb plants are extracted from GAP farms in the Sichuan province between late Autumn and early Spring (before new season germination).

Rhubarb root has bitter and cold properties and acts on the heart, large intestine, liver and stomach meridians.

Note: GAP = Good Agricultural Practice- a standard administered by the Chinese state to ensure high quality plant growing with low toxicity.

2. Production

A GMP factory in Sichuan province will remove the fibrous root and skin from the tuber of the rhubarb plant, slice it, then dry it.
For every 100kg of dried roots, 10kg of yellow wine is sprayed onto the surface of the raw Da huang and left to soak. It is then stir-fried over a soft flame until the roots turn dark brown without carbonized spots.

Note1: crude herb should be yellow, veinous with spots of oil cavities, pleasant smelling, bitter and acerbic to taste.

Note 2: GMP = Good Manufacturing Practice - a standard administered by the Chinese state.

3. Distribution

GSP's sell the product to hospitals, pharmacies and direct to customers via internet etc.

Average online price - $7.70 per 200 pills.

Note: GSP = Good Supply Practice of TCM products- a standard administered by the Chinese state.

4. Consumer

Crude herb treats constipation.

Cured Da huang treats blood stasis, belly pain and can be used to soften acute appendicitis.

In TCM terms it drains heat and accumulations from the Yangming level, clears damp heat, cools the blood, Invigorates blood, eliminates stagnant blood and clears toxic heat and purges knotted heat and stool from the colon.

Medical Thesaurus

• germination (n)- the start of new growth
• toxicity (adj.)- the level of toxin content
• fibrous (adj.)- containing fibres
• tuber (n)- the underground body of some plants
• carbonized (adj.)- burnt
• veinous (adj.)- showing veins
• acerbic (adj.)- acid-like
• constipation (n)- the state of delayed passing of dry/hardened stool
• stasis (n)- the slowing or stoppage of fluids
• appendicitis (n)- dis-ease (inflammation) of the vermiform appendix
• accumulation (n)- the gathering together of a mass
• Yangming level (n)- the stomach/large intestinal area
• invigorate (v)- to give vigor/stronger life to something
• eliminate (v)- to remove
• stagnant (adj.)- not flowing
• purge (v)- to free or relieve something
• knotted (adj.)- bunched together