Cooling Flower Tea (Chrysanthemums)

Soup Name: Cooling Flower Tea (Chrysanthemums)

Traditional Chinese Name: 金銀菊花降暑茶 (Jīnyín júhuā jiàng shǔ chá)

Introduction:
An extremely cooling drink that is ideal in the hot summer, for cooling the body, clearing heatiness and detoxifying the body.  It is usually served cold (with ice or cooled in the fridge) and with rock sugar (or syrup sugar).  This is a very common Chinese drink and can be purchased either pre-bottled or on the street.  You can also find these ingredients prepackaged for homemade usage.

What Ingredients are required?

6-7 pieces of dried Chinese licorice
50g of dried Japanese Honeysuckle
50g of dried chrysanthemum flower
rock sugar (to taste)
2-3 L of water

How do I prepare it?

  1. Boil water
  2. Rinse ingredients in warm water briefly (except rock sugar)
  3. When water boils, add all ingredients together
  4. Boil for an hour on medium heat
  5. Strain ingredients from liquid
  6. Add rock sugar and let dissolve
  7. Cool in fridge or with ice (optional)
  8. Serve and enjoy!

Any benefits?

  • Excellent soup for relieving heatiness
  • Helps relieve symptoms of sunstroke and heatstroke
  • Excellent detoxifying drink for the body

Any precautions?

  • People with sensitive stomachs (otherwise known as cold stomachs) should avoid overly cooling herbs
  • Pregnant woman in their first trimester take caution as cooling ingredients can cause contractions
  • After consumption, you may notice frequent urination (this is normal) as your body is also detoxifying

Chrysanthemum Drink

Soup Name:  Chrysanthemum Drink or Chrysanthemum Tea Drink

Traditional Chinese Name:菊花茶 (jú huā chá) or 菊花水 (jú huā shuǐ)
 
Introduction:
Chrysanthemum is a classic Chinese flower that is used in teas, drinks and desserts.  It’s easy to make yourself and is a can be a refreshing coolant in the hot summer days or drink hot as a tea with or without sugar.  It’s got a very distinct taste and is highly fragrant.

What Ingredients are required?

4-5 tablespoons of dried Chrysanthemum
1 piece of rock sugar (add amount as desired)
5 cups of water

How do I prepare it?

  1. Rinse Chrysanthemum in warm water
  2. Add to cold water and boil
  3. When boiling add rock sugar
  4. Boil for 30 minutes
  5. Can add ice or cool to be served as a cold drink!

Any benefits?

  • Helps reduce heatiness and is a cooling drink
  • Can help reduce acne (cool the skin and body)
  • Aids in digestion and is often taken with meals
  • Also said to be be helpful in curing blood pressure, coronary heart disease, high cholesterol, heart colic and arteriosclerosis

Any precautions?

  • Not be consumed by women who are pregnant – especially in first trimester as it’s a cooling food

 

Chrysanthemum (Dried)

Chrysanthemum (Dried)

Chrysanthemum (Dried)

Ingredient Name:

Chrysanthemums, Mums, Chrysanths

Traditional Chinese Name:

菊花 (jú huā)

This ingredient is cooling and bitter sweet.

I’m a huge fan of this dried herb!  You can find it commonly used in Chinese restaurants as a tea which you can order, at supermarkets as bulk, at Asian herbal shops, and even in some western herbal tea blends.  When seeped, it turns the liquid into a bright clear yellow.  You can actually eat the flowers if you’d like, but they do disintegrate quite a bit and can be difficult to drink with all that stuff floating around 🙂

The chrysanthemum flower is widely known as a cooling ingredient in both Chinese food and Traditional Chinese Medicine.  If you’ve got lots of “hot air” (yeet hay) or feeling very heaty, this is the go to herbal drink.  It’s actually very common in Hong Kong to find chrysanthemum bottled or boxed drinks.  

This is a perennial flower plant that has many variations (different colours such as white, pinks, yellows) in various shapes and sizes.  It was first cultivated in China for herbal properties and is used in teas, drinks, desserts and various other Chinese dishes.  It is often purchased dried for consumption and has a very distinct taste and scent.

How do I prepare it?

      • You can rinse in warm water first as sometimes there are bugs floating around, but not too long as not to seep out the flavours.No other preparation needed.

What is the cost?

      • The price will range from a few dollars to tens of dollars depending on the size, make, and brand of the dried flowers

      • There are smaller full buds, which tend to be more expensive, or the shredded bloomed ones, which are cheaper
      • In general, one tub of 60 g of dried loose flowers can cost around $8 CAD

Any benefits?

      • This ingredient is considered cooling and great to remove and eliminate excess heat and heat from the body
      • It is particularly targeted to the liver (eyes) and lungs
      • It’s often used to help with fever, colds, and headaches
      • It tends to have a cleansing effect by clearing heat and drying dampness in the body
      • This goes will with honey (added in after you’ve boiled or steeped the tea)

Any precautions?

      • It is cooling, so be careful if you’re cold, feeling cold, or have excess yin

      • Not suggested as part of postpartum or confinement consumption as it’s cooling

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