Digestion & Elimination

On Grains and Chinese Medicine

By Gory ⋅ March 14, 2009 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

On Wheat

Wheat seeds are called grains. When harvested, the wheat is separated from the chaff (浮小麦). And what’s left is the kernel, made up of:

• germ
• endosperm
• bran

Whole wheat refers to the grains of  the plant. When whole wheat is ground to powder, we get wheat flour (面粉) which we use to make bread. And breakfast cereal, noodles. Wheat is also used to make beer.

Other trivia:

• The straw is used as fodder or to make straw roofs, hats and whatever else.
• Some people are allergic to gluten, a protein found in wheat.

Also check out:

1. http://sitemaker.umich.edu/section6group5/introduction__
2. http://ask.ci123.com/questions/show/159316/
3. http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/30388801.html?fr=qrl

Wheat’s link to Chinese medicine

The grain itself is used to 养心除烦, used to treat a perimenopausal analog called 脏躁.

The chaff (浮小麦 aka Triticum Aestivum) which is used to stem perspiration symptoms as well as 益气除热.

Barley

Barley (大麦) is another grain crop that’s similar to wheat, what with the germ-endosperm-bran composition as well as its straw being similarly useful. Below, my summary of wiki’s barley info:

While most common wheat has a hull that is easy to get rid of (call this chaff), the hull of barley usually isn’t. So we usually need to dehull barley to reveal the germ-endosperm-bran makeup. This is not only edible, but also healthy – hence the term whole grain. Whole grain barley, while having the same GI (glycemic index) as whole grain wheat, is better at maintaining blood sugar levels

What’s less healthy (relatively-speaking) is pearled barley or polished barley. Here, the bran is taken away, and often processed into flour or flakes for further use.

But this is what it’s mainly used for:

• as fodder (half of barley in the States is used for this)
• make beer and bread (in Egypt it was like this) – check out malting

What we call 麦芽 is 大麦芽 aka barley malt. Why this is so has alot to do with malting, which germinates barley sprouts and then dries them for use. Malting eases the breaking down of these barley sprouts (mainly starch) into sugars (hence malt and maltose). Malting also helps create proteases which will help yeast do its work in bread or beer or whisky production.

Barley’s Link to Chinese Medicine

In TCM, 麦芽 is an herb used to aid digestion and for breastfeeding mothers when they want to wean (delactate).

Knowing this, we can infer that 麦芽糖 malt sugar may not be helping to a mum who wants to breastfeed,

but can give a person strength when he needs it.

Rice

Rice (大米) is the Asian staple. The unprocessed product is called 稻米, which is grown in the padi fields (水稻).

Rice’s link to Chinese Medicine

Chinese Medicine uses the roots of the rice plant to stem perspiration symptoms. The rice that is used is a particular type to sticky rice called 糯米. And the roots are called 糯稻根.

Both 稻芽 (Oryza Sativa) and 谷芽 (Setaria Italica) are used to harmonize the digestive system. These are rice-like sprouts.

Yeah, it seems like sprouts are preferred to older varieties.

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