Recently, you might see quite a lot of fresh lychee selling in the markets. Do you know that lychee also has healing properties in TCM?
In《全国中草药汇编》, it is stated that lychee has the property of 益气补血. This means that lychee can help to strengthen Qi flow in the body (improving energy and immunity) and act as a blood tonic (suitable for people with blood deficiency).
Given that lychee has a warm thermal nature, do note that it can cause heatiness. Thus for people who are Yin deficient and people who are having sore throat or flu, it is better not to consume lychee for the time being.
If you’re unable to find fresh lychee in your area, you can also purchase dried lychee as an alternative (see image below).
Dried lychee has the same health benefits as fresh lychee (strengthening Qi and blood). In fact, dried lychee has the added benefit of being less heaty than fresh lychee.
For hundreds of years, dried lychee has been used to treat children’s bedwetting and chronic diarrhea conditions (that often occur in seniors between 3 to 5am). For treatment of chronic diarrhea in this case, the dried lychee has to be cooked with rice and served as porridge.