Various types of ginger in traditional Chinese medicine

"Ginger" is a common ingredient in our daily life and a common medicine with high medicinal value. Fresh ginger, dried ginger, roasted ginger, ginger charcoal, ginger peel, stewed ginger, and galangal are all commonly used Chinese medicinal materials. Although they are all ginger, their pharmacological effects are very different. Let's systematically introduce their effects and differences.

Ginger: spicy, slightly warm. Functions: sweating, relieving exterior symptoms, warming the middle and stopping vomiting, warming the lungs and stopping coughing, mainly used to treat colds, stomach cold vomiting, and cold coughs.

The herbal literature of all dynasties has described it as follows:

(1) "Ming Yi Bie Lu" states that "it tastes spicy and slightly warm. It is mainly used to treat headaches, nasal congestion, cough, shortness of breath, and vomiting caused by typhoid fever." It can stop vomiting and treat exogenous wind-cold, which is roughly the same as today.

(2) "Compendium of Materia Medica" says: "It has a pungent smell and moves without staying." "This medicine promotes yang and disperses qi."

(3) "Compendium of Materia Medica" states that "it is purely pungent and dispersing." This is a summary of its medicinal properties.

(4) "Changsha Yaojie" states that "it can relieve nausea and vomiting, relieve fullness and depression, enter the lungs and stomach to expel turbidity, move the liver and spleen to relieve stagnation, remove chest congestion, expel stomach congestion, relieve nasal congestion, and stop abdominal pain. It harmonizes the internal organs, promotes the circulation of the Ying and Wei, is an essential product for menstruation, and is a good medicine for relieving phlegm." "It is suitable to add ginger to products that nourish the Ying and Wei to promote circulation, so that the flow is smooth and unobstructed. Zhigancao, Xinjia Decoction, and Danggui Sini Decoction all use it to warm the meridians and relieve congestion." Based on the previous generation, the efficacy evaluation is more detailed.

(5) Shennong's Herbal Classic states that "it is pungent and warm. It is used to treat chest fullness, cough, reverse breathing, warm the middle and stop bleeding, induce sweating, expel rheumatism, and treat diarrhea. The raw ginger is especially good. Long-term consumption can remove bad breath and improve mental clarity." At the time of the Ben Jing, there was no clear distinction between the effects of dried and fresh ginger.

(6) "Ben Jing Shu Zheng" states that "fresh ginger is the young ginger produced by old ginger, while dried ginger is the product of old ginger. Therefore, dried ginger has more autumn energy and has the function of astringing. Fresh ginger has more summer energy and has the function of dispersing."

Dried ginger: spicy, hot in nature. Efficacy: warms the middle and dispels cold, restores yang and dredges the meridians, warms the lungs and transforms fluid, treats abdominal pain due to middle-aged cold, yang loss, syncope, weak pulse, cold fluid cough and asthma, etc.

Records in herbal literature of past dynasties:

(1) "Ming Yi Bie Lu" "It is very hot, but not toxic. It is mainly used to treat cold abdominal pain, nausea, cholera, bloating, wind evil, various poisons, gas accumulation between the skin, and stop spitting blood." The scope of its main treatments is slightly wider than that of later generations.

(2) The "Compendium of Materia Medica" states that "Ginger is yellowish-white in color, pungent and warm in flavor, and has a firm constitution. It is a special medicine for warming the middle earth, and is used in the Lizhong Decoction." "Ginger warms the spleen and goes up to the lungs, so it can treat lung cough and go down to the spleen, which is exactly the right medicine. For example, Xiaoqinglong Decoction uses ginger to treat cold cough and uses up to three liang of ginger. Even if it is slightly laxative, the ginger is not removed." This emphasizes its function of warming the middle earth.

(3) Shennong’s Herbal Classics: Records of 100 Kinds of Herbs[9] states: “Dried ginger has a strong aroma and flavor, so it can disperse but also defend. If it does not disperse completely and does not defend completely, then it will rotate among the meridians and internal organs, dispel cold and dampness, and harmonize blood and ventilate. This is inevitable.” “Rotating among the meridians and internal organs” is a description of the site of action of dried ginger that is not found in other books.

(4) Ben Cao Qiu Zhen [13]: "Its taste is originally pungent. It becomes bitter after processing. It is very hot but not toxic. It stays in the body and does not move away. It is used to treat coldness in the stomach and the loss of primordial yang. It can be taken together with aconite. It can restore yang and has an immediate effect. Therefore, there is a sentence in the book: aconite without ginger will not be hot."

(5) Changsha Yaojie [6]: “It dries dampness and warms the middle, relieves depression and lowers turbidity, replenishes fire and earth, helps digestion, warms the spleen and stomach and warms the hands and feet, regulates yin and yang and stops vomiting, relieves cough and relieves cough, lifts and stops diarrhea.” “Dried ginger warms the middle and dispels cold, moves the wheels, and can restore the normal rise and fall without helping the evil. If the evil is strong in the upper and lower parts, it can be helped by some herbs that clear metal and moisten wood, and they can also work together without conflict. If you do not know how to warm the middle, but only clear the upper and lower parts, the more you clear, the hotter you will get, and you will die!”

Fresh ginger is easy to understand, that is, mature and dried young ginger. There are different opinions about dried ginger. One is that fresh ginger is dried after being roasted, and the other is that in Ben Jing Shu Zheng, "fresh ginger is the young ginger born from old ginger, and dried ginger is the old ginger." That is, the old ginger root that gave birth to young ginger is dried, so dried ginger has more autumn energy and has the function of astringency. Fresh ginger has more summer energy and mainly has the function of dispersing. After examining the medication and description of doctors in various dynasties, the second statement seems to be more appropriate.

Dry ginger warms the middle and dispels cold to restore the normal ascending and descending. Fresh ginger enters the lungs and spleen and stomach, moves without staying, induces sweating and relieves the exterior, helps yin to move yang, removes dampness and guides the body, and must be used for those with water and dampness, blood stasis, detoxification of Pinellia, Arisaema, fish and crabs.

There is a saying about dried ginger that "without ginger there will be no heat with aconite". It stays but does not move. It specifically assists aconite in restoring yang and opening the heart meridians, warming the middle and dispersing cold, removing the cold of the spleen and stomach, and drying up the dampness of the spleen and stomach. Dried ginger can lead blood medicines into the blood, qi medicines into the qi, and can remove evil and nourish new, which means that yang gives birth to yin. It must be used by those with heart, spleen and kidney yang deficiency and cold and dampness, and blood deficiency.

Stewed ginger: spicy, warm in nature. It can stop vomiting. It is suitable for spleen and stomach disharmony, nausea and vomiting. Stew it with paper wrapping, or wrapping it with paper and then baking it next to the fire. Stewed ginger is to wrap ginger slices with straw paper, soak it in clean water, and simmer it directly on the fire. When the straw paper is burnt black and the ginger is cooked, it is ready when the surface of the ginger is burnt yellow. Stewed ginger will descend instead of rising, stop abdominal pain and diarrhea, support the spleen yang qi, disperse the stagnant qi, and stop vomiting without dryness and heat. It can protect the spleen and stomach. It must be used for spleen and stomach disharmony and abdominal pain caused by cold and dampness.

The records in the herbal literature of all dynasties are roughly the same. Stewed ginger is neither dry nor scattered, warms the spleen and stomach and stops vomiting, and the efficacy is doubled when used with jujube.

"Bencao Congxin" says: If you use fresh ginger, you may fear that it will disperse; if you use dried ginger, you may fear that it will dry out. Only this ginger is slightly non-drying and non-scattering. It can be used to harmonize the stomach and stop vomiting. It can be used together with jujube to promote the flow of fluid in the spleen and stomach and harmonize the Ying and Wei. It is the most appropriate. Wash the old ginger, wrap it with wet coarse straw paper, and simmer it over charcoal fire until the straw paper is completely charred and the outer skin of the ginger is slightly charred. When the center is dark yellow, it is transparent, and then slice it.

"Ben Jing Cuo Yao": It tastes spicy and enters the hand Shaoyin and foot Taiyin Yangming meridians. It is good at harmonizing the Ying and Wei meridians, without being dispersing or drying. It can be used together with jujube to promote the flow of body fluids in the spleen and stomach.

"Bencao Fenjing": It is pungent and warm, harmonizes the middle and stops vomiting, is neither dispersing nor dry, and is most appropriate when used together with jujube to promote the flow of body fluids in the spleen and stomach and harmonize the Ying and Wei.

"Ben Cao Hai Li" says: It is pungent, warm, dry and dispersing, but not too strong. It can stop vomiting and soothe the stomach. It is the safest to warm the spleen and stomach. It is used with dates and is suitable for stewing ginger. [Treatment] Wash the ginger, wrap it with coarse paper, soak it in ashes, stew it until cooked, and slice it for medicine.

Paojiang: pungent, hot. Enters the spleen, stomach, kidney, heart, and lung meridians. Warms the middle and dispels cold, warms the meridians and stops bleeding. Used for spleen and stomach deficiency and cold, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea, vomiting, epistaxis, metrorrhagia, and blood loss due to yang deficiency.

Paojiang is mostly made from mother ginger, and there are many dried gingers on the market. Paojiang tends to warm the spleen yang and help digestion to control water temperature. This bitter and hot taste enters the spleen and stomach, guards the middle and drives away the cold, and is used for postpartum coldness, coldness in the lower abdomen, abdominal pain and diarrhea, and lung and spleen yang deficiency and spleen bleeding.

"Bencao Fenjing": It is pungent, pungent and very hot, it can eliminate stomach coldness while protecting the middle and replenishing the heart qi, it can eliminate deep coldness in the internal organs, remove evil and create newness, it can revive the pulse and eliminate yang, it can also lead blood-inducing drugs into the liver to produce blood and reduce fever, it can lead black aconite into the kidney to eliminate cold and dampness.

"Yao Xing Qie Yong" says: It is dried ginger roasted until black. It is pungent, hot and spicy, enters the spleen and stomach and protects the middle to drive away the cold, and restores the yang in an emergency. It is a special medicine for warming the middle to stop bleeding. It is needed for postpartum coldness, that is, false heat floating outside, and roasted ginger is indispensable. Note: The two gingers have different fighting and defense properties. Dried ginger is pungent and hot, and drives away the cold inside and relieves the cold on the surface; roasted ginger is pungent and spicy, and removes the cold inside and restores the false yang. However, ginger is pungent and hot, so pregnant women should avoid it.

Ginger charcoal: bitter, pungent, astringent, warm in nature, enters the spleen, liver, and kidney meridians. Stir-fried black charcoal specifically enters the blood, so it can be used for cold and bleeding in various organs of the body. Efficacy: warms the meridians and stops bleeding; warms the spleen and stops diarrhea. It is mainly used for cold and vomiting blood; blood in the stool; metrorrhagia; and diarrhea due to yang deficiency.

"Compendium of Materia Medica": "Those with cold blood can use more, while those with hot blood can only use three or four points as a guide."

"Compendium of Materia Medica" states: "Using it frequently can increase yin and consume qi, so pregnant women should avoid it."

Depei Materia Medica states: "If taken by pregnant women, the fetus will be eliminated; if taken by people with qi deficiency, it will damage their vital energy; if taken by people with yin deficiency, internal heat and excessive sweating, it is forbidden."

Ginger peel: pungent, cool. Enters the spleen and stomach meridians, promotes qi and eliminates water. Used for urinary incontinence, edema and other symptoms. Disperses water and harmonizes the spleen, especially good at dispersing edema caused by dampness in the spleen, stomach and skin, which is different from ginger sweating and dried ginger water-dissolving drink.

"Compendium of Materia Medica": "It can eliminate swelling, abdominal distension, and fullness, harmonize the spleen and stomach, and remove cataracts."

"Pharmaceutical Chemistry": "Don't disperse it too much, it has the effect of relieving deficiency fever."

"New Compendium of Materia Medica": "It harmonizes the spleen and descends the lungs, promotes the flow of water and reduces swelling, and treats diaphragmatic obstruction and distension."

"Jiangsu Plant Medicine Records": "For external use in abscesses, wounds, and skin ringworms."

"Medical Collection" says: "Ginger peel is pungent and cold. All peels are contrary to their nature, so they are cold. The peel reaches the skin, and the pungent taste can move, so it can treat edema and remove wind and heat from the skin. Ginger induces sweating, and ginger peel stops sweating and is slightly cold."

"Compendium of Materia Medica": Spicy and cool. Harmonizes the spleen and promotes water circulation. Treats swelling and fullness. (Use the peel to promote the peel, Wupi Powder. Ancient prescriptions use ginger tea to treat dysentery, hot dysentery with the peel left, cold dysentery without the peel, very good.

In summary, ginger skin goes to the skin surface, fresh ginger slices go to the lungs, dried ginger goes to the spleen, kidneys and lower abdomen, simmered ginger warms the middle, charcoal ginger warms and stops bleeding and goes to the heart, and charcoal-like ginger stops bleeding and nourishes the heart and goes to the heart.