Licorice is a very common medicinal herb with a sweet taste that also appears in the kitchen. In "Shen Nong's Materia Medica", licorice is listed as top grade.
Licorice is the dry root and rhizome of leguminous plant licorice, licorice inflate or licorice glabra. Produced in Northeast, North China, Northwest provinces and Shandong. It often grows in dry sandy land, riverbank sandy texture, hillside grassland and salinized soil. It is also found in Mongolia and Siberia, Russia. Excavated in spring and autumn, removed fibrous roots, and sun-dried.
Tao Hongjing, a medical scientist in the Southern Dynasties, respected licorice as "the old man of the country", and said: "This herb is the king of all medicines, and there are few people who don't use it in prescriptions, just like agarwood in incense."
"Guo Lao" is the name of the emperor's teacher. The reason for admiring licorice as the emperor of medicine is just as Li Shizhen explained in "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Among all medicines, licorice is the king. Because of his meritorious service, he has the title of 'National Elder'."
There is such a record in the book "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" written by the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing, "Shaoyin disease for two or three days, sore throat can be taken with Gancao Decoction", which means that if there is sore throat and belongs to Shaoyin disease considered by traditional Chinese medicine Sometimes, you can take licorice water for treatment. It can be seen that licorice is a good herbal medicine for throat and pain relief. But licorice does much more than that.
"Shen Nong's Materia Medica" records, "(Glycyrrhiza licorice) governs cold, heat and evil qi in the internal organs, strengthens muscles and bones, grows muscles, doubles strength, relieves sores and swells, and detoxifies."
Licorice is sweet in taste, slightly cold, and returns to the heart, lung, spleen, and stomach. Humans mainly focus on tonic,
Specifically, its effects include invigorating the heart and temper, relieving cough, dispelling phlegm and relieving asthma, relieving spasms and relieving pain, clearing away heat and detoxification, and harmonizing the properties of the medicine. The so-called reconciling medicinal properties refer to the fact that if a single licorice is added to the prescription, the toxicity (partiality) of certain drugs can be reduced, and the sweet taste of licorice can enhance the taste of the soup, so licorice has the name of "peacemaker". say.
Raw licorice and roasted licorice
At present, there are two types of licorice in pharmacies: raw licorice and honey-roasted. Raw licorice tends to clear away heat and detoxify, such as sore throat and sore tongue; roasted licorice is warm in nature and tends to invigorate Qi and deficiency.
"Compendium of Materia Medica": "Glycyrrhiza licorice is red on the outside and yellow in the middle, with Kunli in the bag. It has a strong flavor and a thin air, and has a capital and earth virtue. The products of the Concorde Group have the merits of the elders; they are good at curing all kinds of evils, and they are kingly. People don't know the power of the emperor. It can be described as the good phase of medicine." Therefore, the harmonizing medicinal properties of licorice are because it is mainly rustic and at the same time separates fire.