A Visit To The Chinese Medical Hall

By : admin | 4 Comments | On : May 10, 2012 | Category : Articles

After dropping the kids off at school this morning, I made a trip to the nearby market where my favourite chinese medical hall is located at. I like it that their items are very neatly packed and displayed. It’s clean, bright and easy to navigate around the shop. Shop assistants are friendly and really helpful.

This morning, I came to the chinese medical hall with no clear intention of buying anything but I remember I made chicken soup just two days ago with cordycep flowers and it has left a deep impression on me. We all know how costly the cordyceps are, a real ordinary 100gms of it can cost up to a whopping $200!!! It is something that I am not willing to part with and something which I can live without.

The cordycep flowers however got me curious and I struck a conversation with the shop keeper about it. He told me that the cordycep flowers have nutritional value as good as the real cordycep. Best of all a 350gms of cordycep flowers cost a mere $12! What a world of difference? This short conversation I had with the shop keeper, however, got me really interested to find out more about this little flower.

Cordyceps Flower 冬虫草花

Here’s a little background about the cordycep flowers – the actual name is Cordyceps Militaris 冬虫草花. It is neither a flower nor grass, nor does it resemble a worm. It is a cultured mushroom fungus and has similar medicinal value and chemical composition as Cordyceps Sinensis 冬虫草. It may not have equivalent medicinal strength compared to the Cordyceps Sinensis. It is believed that this valuable herb has properties that is helpful in strengthening our lungs, kidneys and liver.

玉竹片

Here are some said health benefits of the Cordyceps Flower:
- Improve respiratory function to treat asthma, cough, emphysema, bronchitis
- Improve kidney, boost energy and improve brain memory
- Improve liver function to treat hepatitis
- Reduce blood sugar, urine sugar
- Reduce blood pressure and ease hypertension, thrombus diseases
- Reduce heart disease risk, numbness of hands or feet
- Antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer
- Enhance overall immune system
- Antioxidant and anti-aging.

Ingredient:
1 whole chicken (you may also use chicken thighs or breast meat)
20-30gms of Cordyceps Flower
5 Red dates
1 tsp of wolfberries
20-30gms of 玉竹片
3－5 slices of American Ginseng (花旗参)
1-2litres of water
salt to taste

Method:
1) wash the chicken thoroughly; rinse the rest of the ingredients to clear off any dirt
2) Bring a pot of water to a boil then place the chicken into the pot together with the rest of the ingredients except the salt
3) Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 2-3hours
4) Before serving add salt to taste
5) Serve hot

Post submitted by Pauline Wong, a member of the Munch Ministry