Food and medicine from sâm cau

According to oriental medicine, sâm cau has a spicy taste, warm properties, is slightly toxic, enters the kidney meridian, has the effect of warming and nourishing kidney qi, strengthening yang, warming the middle, drying dampness, dispersing blood stasis, eliminating cold and dampness, strengthening tendons and bones, and regulating digestion.

Curculigo orchioides Gaertn, also known as Curculigo orchioides Gaertn, belongs to the Hypoxidaceae family.

Sâm cau is a perennial herb, 20 - 30cm tall, or more. Leaves are 3 - 6, narrow lanceolate, pleated and veined like areca leaves, 20 - 40cm long, 2.5 - 3cm wide, petioles are about 10cm long. The rhizome is long and cylindrical, grows straight, has a tuber shape as big as a finger, tapered at both ends, has many secondary roots that are similar to rhizomes, rough brown bark, ivory yellow inside. Inflorescences are 3 - 5, small yellow flowers, grow on a short axis located in overlapping bracts. Capsules are oblong, 1.2 - 1.5cm long, containing 1 - 4 seeds.

Fruit season: May - July.

Sâm cau grows wild on grassy hillsides along the mountains and forests of some provinces in Northern Vietnam and is also found on high mountain hills in Lam Dong.

Cau ginseng tree.

The part used as medicine is the rhizome (root), with the medicinal name Rhizoma Curculiginis. People harvest it all year round, best in the fall. Dig up the root, remove the small roots, wash it, scrape off the outer skin, soak it in rice water overnight to remove the toxins, then dry it in the sun or with a dryer.

In the rhizome of the ginseng plant, there are starch, mucus, tannin, fatty acids, beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol and flavonoid compounds, substances belonging to the cycloartan, triterpenic, cycloartan glycoside groups, curculigosaponin (A, B, C, D).

Sâm cau is a medicinal herb that contains natural steroids, which have testosterone-like effects (a male sex hormone).

Modern pharmacology has shown that Tien Mao has antioxidant effects, can enhance the immune system, increase the activity of male gonads, enhance the body's ability to adapt to conditions of lack of oxygen or high temperature environments, enhance heart activity, dilate coronary vessels, protect the liver, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, anti-fungal, anti-convulsant, helps calm, relieve pain, improve skin, increase muscle activity, anti-aging, help prevent diabetes and cancer.

Often used to treat men with kidney yang deficiency, cold semen, low sperm count, impotence, decreased vitality, weak limbs, asthma, hepatitis and jaundice; women with cold uterus, leucorrhea, cloudy urine, postmenopausal osteoporosis; elderly people often suffer from nocturia, urinary incontinence, cold abdomen, cold back and knee pain, rheumatism, chronic arthritis, difficulty moving, and nervous breakdown.

Use 6 - 12g per day, alone or in combination with other herbs. Decoction or wine soak to drink.

Some medicines use sâm cau

Cure asthma, diarrhea: dry the roots of the ginseng plant, slice thinly, and fry until golden.

Use 12 - 16g, cook with 250ml of water, reduce to 50ml, drink once a day, before meals.

Cure rheumatism and body aches: 20g each of Chinese clematis root, red polygonum multiflorum (processed with black beans), and hy thiem thao (gypsy grass), cut into thin, small pieces, soak in 500ml of white wine for 7-10 days (or the longer the better).

Drink twice a day, 30ml each time, before meals.

Treatment of dengue fever: 20g of cau sâm (black-roasted), 12g of eclipta prostrata, 10g of thuja orientalis leaves (black-roasted), 8g of gardenia fruit (black-roasted).

Cook with 600ml of water, reduce to 200ml, divide into 2-3 times to drink during the day, before meals.

Cure impotence due to functional nervous disorder: 20g of cau ginseng, bo chinh ginseng, buffalo neck (lizard fig), wolfberry, achyranthes, dipsacus root, gypsum, Chinese yam, morinda officinalis, each 12g; female chasteberry, acanthopanax each 8g.

Wash everything, slice thinly, dry in the sun or oven, cook with 750ml of water, reduce to 300ml, divide into 2-3 times to drink during the day, before meals.

Or use: 20g of Chinese clematis root, 16g of Morinda officinalis, 16g of Eucommia ulmoides bark, 16g of walnut, 16g of Chinese clematis root, 4g of fennel. Cook with 750ml of water until 250ml remains, divide into 2 doses to drink during the day, before meals.

The prescription “Nhi tien thang” includes: 12g of ginseng (tien mao), epimedium (tien linh ti), angelica, and morinda officinalis, each. Cook with 750ml of water until 250ml remains, divide into 2 doses to drink before meals.

Used to treat high blood pressure, suitable for men with impotence due to kidney yang deficiency, women in menopause.

Some dishes and medicines using sâm cau

Chicken cooked with ginseng and cau:

Ingredients: 250g chicken, 15g ginseng, 15g epimedium. Assorted spices.

How to make: Wash the chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces, marinate with spices, let it marinate for about 20 minutes. Wash the two herbs. Put everything in a clay pot, cook with enough water, until the chicken is tender. Season to taste. Eat while hot.

Effect: replenishes kidney yang, replenishes blood and qi, increases vitality, eliminates rheumatism. Very useful for people with erectile dysfunction due to kidney yang deficiency, back pain and weak knees.

Tien Mao wine:

Ingredients: Tien Mao (dried, thinly sliced, dried, fried until golden) 50g, rice wine 500ml.

Preparation: Soak Tien Mao in alcohol for 7-10 days (shake the jar gently 1-2 times daily).

Drink 2 times a day with meals, about 30ml each time.

This wine has the effect of nourishing kidney yang and eliminating rheumatism. It is often used to treat impotence, back pain and cold, rheumatism, and nervous breakdown.

According to SK&DS