Dried Tangerine Peel Benefits in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

dried orange peel snack

I believe many people underestimate the healing effects of dried tangerine peel (陈皮). I hardly leave the house without dried tangerine peel as it is one of the foods (snacks) that I’ve personally experienced real, positive healing effects from!

dried orange peel

In many Asian countries, most people eat dried tangerine peel as a snack, but rarely do people consume it for its healing benefits.

The first time I learned about its healing benefits was during my class at Singapore College of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), where the professor shared that dried tangerine peel is excellent for harmonizing the Qi flow in our stomach!

Ever since that class, I will always carry some dried tangerine peel with me, especially if I know that I will be having meals outside.

Providing Relief For These Three Situations

There are three situations where dried tangerine peels can be especially useful:

1) Motion sickness – Dried tangerine peel is highly effective for relieving motion sickness, especially when traveling on winding roads towards higher altitudes.

People experiencing motion sickness, whether on the roads or the sea, often feel bloated and may even feel nauseous. This happens because the Qi in the stomach is disturbed.

During this time, eating some dried tangerine peel can bring relief, often after a few burps.

2) Anxiety – I also use dried tangerine peel to help ease my anxiety when I need to do public speaking, which sometimes make me feel so nervous that I can throw up. Eating dried tangerine peel helps calm my nerves and provide relief in such situations.

3) Indigestion – I’m not sure if you’ve experienced this, but sometimes after eating some oily foods or drinking some beverages that contain dairy, I feel bloated. It’s as if my stomach has stopped digesting, leaving me with no appetite for the next meal.

This is the time when dried tangerine peel will have a miraculous effect on me. After I eat a few pieces of dried tangerine peel, I will let out a few burps after a while, and then I feel better and normal again. This is the reason why I always carry dried tangerine peel with me whenever I go.

Now, let’s get down to its properties!

The thermal nature of dried tangerine peel is warm. This means people who are heaty should avoid consuming it for the time being.

Dried tangerine peel has properties that benefit the spleen and lungs as follows:

Harmonize the Qi flow in the spleen and stomach (理气健脾): Whenever you feel bloated from eating oily or dairy foods, or experience nausea from motion (like traveling on the seas or in high altitude areas), dried tangerine peel can help to soothe the Qi in your stomach and relieve the discomfort.

Dissolve phlegm in the lungs (燥湿化痰): Dried tangerine peel can also help to dissolve phlegm in your lungs especially if the phlegm is caused by the cold food that you eat, or sudden changes in the surrounding air temperature.

The daily dosage recommendation is 3 to 10g.

Who Should Avoid Eating Dried Tangerine Peel

Most people will not have issues eating dried tangerine peel, but do make sure that you don’t eat it every day.

Also, you should avoid consuming dried tangerine peel if you are having a sore throat or fever.

Two Types of Dried Tangerine Peel

There are two forms of dried tangerine peel.

The first is the kind that requires cooking as shown in the image below. This type of dried tangerine peel is best for cooking desserts like red bean soup.

dried orange peel
This is the kind that you need to cook it before eating.

The second type of dried tangerine peel is the ready-to-eat kind that you can enjoy as a snack on its own.

I will usually choose those with darker skin because the darker the colour, the stronger the healing effects!

dried orange peel snack
This is the kind of dried orange peel that you can just eat it without cooking.

Most Convenient Way to Eat Dried Tangerine Peel

Dried tangerine peelThe most convenient way to enjoy the benefits of dried tangerine peel is to buy the ready-to-eat kind that does not require any soaking or cooking. You can purchase them at any TCM retail shops in your area or online at Amazon.

If you are looking for good quality ones, I can help to purchase them in my country and ship them to where you live. Click here to check out the dried tangerine peel that I am selling on this website.

I hope you find this post useful!

Recommended Vegetable To Eat From 4 Aug to 3 Sep 2024

Chinese Spinach TCM

One vegetable that I recommend most people to eat during these few weeks is 苋菜 (also known as Chinese Spinach or Amaranth).

There is a saying, “六月苋,赛鸡蛋;七月苋,金不换”. What it means is this:

In the month of June (lunar calendar), the nutritional value of Chinese spinach is equivalent to an egg (as you know, egg is a highly nutritional food that contains a holistic range of vitamins and minerals that our human body needs). And when it comes to July (lunar calendar), eating Chinese spinach has so much benefits that people don’t even want to exchange it for gold!

The above saying may be too exaggerated in our times but the Chinese spinach does have its unique benefits.

First, it helps in detoxification, particularly in the large and small intestines.

Next, it can also help in relieving constipation. In the upcoming months as the environment gets drier, some people may experience constipation (especially if they don’t increase water intake), thus eating the Chinese spinach is highly recommended.

Lastly, Chinese spinach is also cooling so it can help to reduce the heatiness in the body for most people.

Do take note that Chinese spinach also contains 草酸 (oxalic acid), just like normal spinach. Oxalic acid can easily combine with calcium to form stones in the body (kidney/bladder), especially for people who have low water intake. Thus, do avoid consuming Chinese spinach together with foods that are high in calcium (such as tofu, milk, soy, etc) in the same meal.

To reduce the oxalic acid, you can blanch the vegetable in boiling water before you cook/stir fry it.

Hope you find this post useful and do share the information with your friends if you think they can benefit from it too!

Have a great day ahead, everyone!

TCM Food Recommendations For Warm And Dry Weather

pear
The weather these few days is getting even warmer and drier than before. I got to know of a few people who noticed blood stains in their phlegm. Some people may also smell blood when they are coughing.
 
These symptoms could be due to the drying of your lungs (肺阴虚) as a result of the weather and your eating habits.
 
For people who are experiencing the above symptoms, especially during these few days and the upcoming months (when the air turns even drier), please avoid consuming spicy foods and biscuits (as biscuits tend to have a drying and heaty effect on the body).
 
The following are some foods that you can consume to moisturize your lungs to regain its balance:
 
1. Pear (梨) – Pear has a very good moisturizing effect on the lungs and it also helps to clear heatiness in our other organs. In fact, its lung-moisturizing benefits are even greater if you cook it! For recipe ideas, you can search for “小吊梨汤” on YouTube.
 
2. White fungus (白木耳) – White fungus is another great good for moisturizing our lungs. In the TCM classic,《增订伪药条辨》, it says 治肺热肺燥,干咳痰嗽;衄血,咯血,痰中带血. This means white fungus can effectively treat blood in phlegm and cough. It requires some effort to prepare and cook white fungus but nowadays, you can easily purchase white fungus dessert or white fungus drink in most TCM retail stores. Drink it consistently for 3 to 5 days to see relief.
 
3. The third option is not a food but a traditional ‘cough syrup’ that most people know of, which is 川贝枇杷膏. This syrup contains herbs that can nourish the lung Yin energy and treat blood in phlegm. This makes it a good alternative for busy people who really have no time to find pears and white fungus.
 
Hopefully we can see some rain in the next few days before we go into the drier season, especially from late August onwards.
 
Take care, friends!

Watermelon Benefits in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine)

These past few days have been very warm, so besides drinking enough water, I highly recommend most people to consume watermelon if you get the chance!
 
Since the thermal nature of watermelon is cold, it is an ideal fruit to enjoy these few weeks.
 
One of the TCM classics,《日用本草》says that watermelon can 消暑热,解烦渴 — meaning it can reduce summer heatiness and quench thirst — especially the kind that doesn’t go away even after drinking lots of water.
 
Do you know that the heat-clearing effect of watermelon is equivalent to a TCM herb formula called 白虎汤? This formula is used when a person is very heaty, keeps feeling thirsty (even after drinking water), and sweats a lot.
 
Just a word of caution: Some people may experience stomach discomfort after eating watermelon if their spleen is not strong enough. In this case, do try to strengthen your spleen first by consuming Chinese yam (shan yao), Si Shen soup, etc.
 
Enjoy some watermelon today or this weekend if you can!