How should the 'miracle drug' deer antler be used?

(Baonghean.vn) - According to traditional medicine, fresh deer antlers are considered one of the four precious medicines that are good for health. Deer antlers have a sweet taste, warm and salty properties, and enter the kidney, heart, and pericardium meridians. They are very good for people with decreased physiological function, women with irregular menstruation, the elderly with poor bone and joint function, and children with rickets, anorexia, and slow growth.

To preserve deer antlers for a long time, according to Quynh Luu people, after cutting the antlers, people need to wash them with wine and crushed ginger, cut them into small slices, dry them, and soak them in wine or store them in the refrigerator...

Quynh Luu currently has nearly 14,000 deer with an antler output of more than 4 tons/year; revenue of over 30 billion VND. Currently, it is entering the "harvesting" season of deer antlers, so farmers are urgently harvesting.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ke, in hamlet 5, Quynh Yen commune, currently has 20 deer, on average 1 deer yields 0.6 - 0.8 kg/head/year; 1.5 - 3 kg/head/year deer; during the harvest season, his family earns 150 - 200 million VND. In addition, he also buys from other households in the amount of 600 - 700 kg of velvet antlers/year. To keep the product fresh for a long time, he bought 2 refrigerators to preserve it.

After picking deer antlers, Mr. Nguyen Van Ke, Quynh Yen commune (Quynh Luu) stored them in the refrigerator.Photo: Viet Hung

After cutting deer antlers, first clean the antlers by using a knife to scrape off the outer hair, then wash them with alcohol, or heat them over a fire until the outer part of the antlers is hot again and continue washing them with alcohol.

In case of using a small or moderate amount of velvet, you can slice or grind the velvet or leave the whole plant in the refrigerator to preserve and use gradually.

Deer velvet is considered one of the four precious medicines good for health.Photo: Viet Hung

Through the preliminary processing steps, deer antlers are processed into many nutritious dishes such as deer antlers porridge, steamed deer antlers with rice, antlers soaked in wine, deer antlers soaked with toa duong mushrooms; in addition, they are also processed with honey and stewed with chicken.

According to people's taste, most of it is now processed into deer antler porridge and soaked in wine.

Processing deer antler porridge. Photo archive.

How to cook porridge:Thinly slice fresh velvet then chop, add velvet when porridge is cooked. Use 2g - 5g velvet each time (equivalent to a piece of velvet the size of a 5,000 VND coin).

How to soak deer antlers in wine:For 1 kg of deer antlers, soak them in 5 - 6 liters of 45 - 50 degree alcohol. First, fresh deer antlers must be processed by cleaning off all the antlers' hair because if there is any remaining hair, it will cause coughing and enteritis.

After cleaning the velvet hair by burning it on a flame or dipping it in boiling water and then using a razor to scrape it off, then use ginger wine to clean the fresh deer antlers, do not wipe the cut antlers. When cleaning the hair, let the antlers dry and then slice them into thin slices and put them in a glass jar. Or you can leave them in pairs if you want a beautiful deer antlers wine jar. Then fill them with wine.

An average deer gives from 1.5 kg - 3 kg of velvet/year.Photo: Viet Hung

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