Chinese Culinary Herbs

by Susanna Dowie MA, LicAc, MBAcC, HonMRCHM

In the west, our choice of foods is frequently driven by taste alone. However, a look at Chinese dietary principles can lead us back to a clearer focus of how we can use foods to build healthy bodies and minds.

Susanna Dowie is an Acupuncturist, and Chinese Herbal Medicine practitioner and Principal of The London College of Traditional Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. She begins her article by taking us through some simple remedies for common ailments. Amongst others, she describes a 'pink soup' in which the magic ingredients are beetroot , which is warming and strengthening, and cinnamon which is also warming and helps support the immune system; chrysanthemum tea bags for headaches and red, itchy eyes; Dang Gui, also known as 'women's ginseng', for its blood tonifying properties; and sesame seeds, which can be used as a user-friendly laxative.

She goes on to describe the Chinese principles of the five elements: Wood, which connects to the liver and gall blood, with its related taste being sour; Fire, related to a bitter taste, and the organs of the heart and small intestine; Earth, associated with the stomach and spleen and sweet tastes; Metal, connected with the lungs and colon and pungent flavours; and Water, related to the kidneys and bladder, with its associated taste of salt.

We are told that an ideal diet balances the five flavours with a variety of fresh foods and refers us to two useful cookery books. Sometimes a craving for a particular taste can indicate a need for it. At the end of the article we are given a case history, a quiz box to test our tasting skills and two delicious recipes.