There are quite a few decoction methods for Chinese herbal medicine described on this website, each with its own characteristics and shortcomings. Here we recommend the content prepared by Wu Yu, in which I have modified some parts. I. Do I need to wash my herbs before decocting them? Most of the herbs are raw and are usually processed and prepared before they are sold, so there is no need to wash them before decoction. If you feel that the herbs are dirty, you can rinse them with water quickly before soaking, but do not soak and rinse them to prevent the loss of a large amount of active ingredients that are easily soluble in water, thus affecting the efficacy of the herbs. What kind of utensils should be used for decocting Chinese herbs? The decoction vessels are generally tile jars and casseroles, but enamel and stainless steel can also be used, but avoid using aluminum, iron and copper vessels to prevent these metal objects from reacting with the drugs and affecting the efficacy of the drugs or even causing harm to the human body. Li Shizhen once said: “Where the decoction and avoid copper and iron, it is appropriate to use silverware tile pot”. Nowadays, ceramic casserole with cover is commonly used. What is the decoction procedure of Chinese medicine? 1. Soak Pour the medicine into the pot and spread it out, then add cold water (do not use cold boiling water) until it is 1 to 2 cm above the level of the medicine, and soak it for 1 to 2 hours. If there are more flowers and leaves in the formula and the water absorption is larger, add additional water before decoction. 2. Heating fire Generally, before the drug is boiled, it is used martial fire (rapid fire), and after boiling, it is appropriate to change to civil fire (slow fire). However, some herbal medicines for external diseases can also be decocted for about 5 minutes after boiling without changing the fire. The decoction time should be determined according to the nature of the drug and disease, the difficulty of dissolving the active ingredients and the medication situation. Generally speaking, it takes 20-25 minutes for the first decoction to start boiling, 15-20 minutes for the second decoction, 10-15 minutes for the first decoction and 10 minutes for the second decoction for the relief of symptoms. For tonic, the first decoction should be boiled for 30-40 minutes, and the second decoction should be boiled for 25-30 minutes, and the first decoction should be boiled for 10-30 minutes, and the second decoction should be added to the pot in the last 5-10 minutes. 4, second decoction (re-decoction) after the end of the first decoction, strain out the juice, re-add cold water to about 0.5 ~ 1 cm above the plane of the drug, continue to decoction on a military fire until boiling and then change to a civil fire decoction for 15 ~ 20 minutes. The purpose of first decoction is to increase the solubility of the drug, reduce the toxicity of the drug, and give full play to the therapeutic effect. 1. Ores: Shells and horns are hard and the active ingredients are not easy to be decocted, so they must be decocted first. Such as raw gypsum, cold water stone, red stone fat, Ling magnetic stone, ochre, sea floating stone, pores, natural copper, oyster, stone cassia, mother of pearl, sea clam shell, corrugated, turtle plate, turtle shell, piercing nail, dragon bone, dragon tooth, turtle shell, buffalo horn, etc., can be broken first decoction 30 minutes. 2.Toxic drugs: such as aconite, sophora, shanglu, etc., to be decocted for 1 to 2 hours first, first decoction, long decoction can achieve the purpose of reducing or removing toxicity. 3.Some botanicals: such as geranium, fire hemp seed, only first decoction is effective. 2, after the next The purpose of the next is to reduce the loss of volatile oil, the active ingredients from decomposition and destruction. 1, aromatic drugs containing volatile oil, such as mint, patchouli, wood, cardamom, sand, grass cardamom, sandalwood, descending incense, incense, artemisia, pine, etc. should be decocted after, generally 5-10 minutes before the Chinese medicine decoction can be entered into the medicine. 2, should not be long decoction of drugs, such as hooked vine, almonds, rhubarb, senna, etc. should be after the next. 3, package decoction 1, pollen drugs such as Pu Huang, fine seeds such as scape seeds, drug fine powder such as Qing Dai, etc., should be package decoction. 2, containing more starch, mucus drugs such as psyllium, in the decoction process, easy to sticky pot paste, coking, so need to package decoction. 3, for drugs with fluff, such as spinach, take the decoction, can avoid the fluff off mixed into the soup to stimulate the throat, causing cough. For some viscous gums or sugars, such as gum, antler gum, honey, caramel, etc., it is advisable to dissolve them in boiling water and then wash them into the soup or melt them into the soup. If mixed decoction, it will lead to the viscosity of the liquid, affecting the dissolution of other ingredients, gum is also subject to certain losses. 5, decoction of soup instead of water General volume of large water absorption of drugs such as loofah, Zao Xin Tu, money grass, glutinous rice root, etc. should first be decocted with water, the resulting juice to remove the dregs and then used to decoct other drugs. 6, dissolved such as mannitol, xuanming powder, etc. can be dissolved and rushed into the soup application. 7, another decoction into some valuable drugs such as ginseng, American ginseng, deer antler, etc. can be decocted separately, the juice into the decoction of the soup to take. 8, raw juice into such as fresh raw ground juice, raw lotus root, pear juice, leek juice, ginger juice, white foxglove juice, bamboo leach, etc., should not be into the decoction, can be blended into the cooked soup to take. 9. Combine with certain precious drugs that do not dissolve in water or are easily decomposed after heating, such as ginseng powder, niuhuang powder, antelope powder, panax notoginseng powder, musk powder, whole scorpion powder, cinnamon powder, gansui powder, etc. Combine the powder in the decoction and stir it. How many times should a pair of Chinese medicine be decocted? Generally speaking, the active ingredients in a pair of Chinese herbs are greatly reduced after two decoctions, so it is better to decoct twice. However, for prescriptions with a large amount of medicine, the active ingredients may be more after two decoctions, so it can be decocted a third time and taken three times a day to save Chinese medicine resources and improve the efficacy to a certain extent.