Elixir for clearing summer heat and relieving thirst

Xiancao, also known as cactus grass, Liangfen grass, black tofu grass, etc., is a kind of herbaceous plant with a long history of both medicine and food To this end, the ancient well-known medical classics "compendium of Materia Medica" once recorded: "Huizhou government property examination: Cactus grass, beautiful stems and leaves, fragrant sandalwood Take its juice and soup in summer, and it will become ice " Because its branches and leaves can be made into bean jelly by adding water and frying juice, it is called "bean jelly grass" Huang Zhaosheng, Professor of Guangzhou University of traditional Chinese medicine and doctoral supervisor of traditional Chinese medicine, pointed out that "Xiancao is astringent, sweet and cold, and has the effect of clearing heat and thirst, cooling blood and relieving heat and diuresis" In recent years, scholars at home and abroad have carried out a lot of scientific research on Xiancao, proving that there are flavonoids, phenols, terpenes, tannins, amino acids and polysaccharides in Xiancao; the monosaccharide group of the pure Xiancao polysaccharide has become glucose, galactose, ala, primary sugar, wood enamel, rhamnose, galacturonic acid and an unknown monosaccharide According to modern medical analysis and determination, all kinds of components contained in Xiancao have various health effects, such as oleanolic acid, which can reduce blood sugar, increase glycogen in liver and insulin in serum; ursolic acid, which can strengthen heart, reduce blood fat, blood sugar and cancer; flavonoids, which can inhibit the growth of cancer cells and reduce blood pressure; or, s-essence, which can inhibit the growth of cancer cells It has the functions of calming, cooling, thirst quenching and water benefiting; polysaccharide has the functions of strengthening and improving the immune function of the body; microelement has the functions of inhibiting the formation of free radicals and anti-aging and anti-cancer; vitamin can regulate and enhance the physiological function At the same time, Xiancao has a long history of folk application as a plant for clearing summer heat and quenching thirst, medicine and food In recent years, the application scale of Xiancao as a healthy food has been expanding For example, it is a kind of Cantonese cold powder made by boiling Xiancao Decoction and rice syrup and freezing, with honey and white sugar, which is smooth and refreshing, unique in flavor, can quench thirst or hunger It can be eaten for a long time, with the functions of clearing away heat, toxin and heat, and can cure heatstroke, cold, high blood pressure, muscle and joint pain It is very popular in midsummer It is mainly made of Xiancao and tea The Xiancao tea made by the manufacturing process of health tea has the functions of green tea and Xiancao It is not only a good tea for clearing summer heat and relieving thirst, helping digestion, but also has a certain therapeutic effect on hypertension, diabetes and jaundice The beverage made from Xiancao juice has the functions of promoting body fluid to quench thirst, relieving heat and eliminating boredom, and also has a certain nourishing effect Its quality is clear and bright, sour and sweet and delicious, and it is unique to Xiancao Special fragrance, long aftertaste, is very suitable for children and the elderly drinks; in addition, fairy grass is rich in coffee pigment, is a good raw material for extracting natural edible coffee pigment With the deepening of people's understanding of fairy grass, fairy grass has been widely used in traditional food Herbal tea is produced by southerners in order to defend against the harm of local hot and humid weather to their health Since they need to defend against hot and humid weather, according to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, they need to have the function of clearing heat and lowering fire, removing dampness and diuresis, and the plants that choose to make herbal tea must also have the function of clearing heat and lowering fire, removing dampness and diuresis At present, because of its functions of clearing away heat and detoxification, cooling blood and diuresis, fairy grass is not only the raw material for making cold powder and tea commonly used by Guangdong people, but also one of the main components of many brand products such as "Wang Laoji cold tea", "twenty fourteen flavor cold tea", "Guangdong cold tea", "fairy grass cool tea", "ten flavor stream yellow grass granules", etc., which has the advantages of wind clearing, heat clearing and heat relieving It is used to relieve heat and thirst, relieve joint pain, food stagnation and fullness, abdominal pain and diarrhea, headache and tiredness, limbs discomfort, etc With the continuous development and improvement of herbal tea market, the consumption of Xiancao will continue to rise, and its role in Guangdong herbal tea will become more and more important.