Chrysanthemum eeTee
(60g) Herbal Extract Instant GranulesChrysanthemum Flower – THE flower that calms, cools and clears.
Chrysanthemum Flower (Chrysanthemum morifolium) is used as a tonic herb and consumed as a tea to nourish the Yin and as an herb to remove wind and heat (inflammation) from various areas of the body. For thousands of years it has been used in China as a wonderful remedy for a healthy life, and is considered by many to be a “longevity herb” because of its excellent, safe and gentle anti-inflammatory actions. Today, it continues to be one of the most commonly consumed herbs in Asia, consumed by millions of people every day as a delicious, satisfying health beverage that addresses many health issues that people face every day. Chrysanthemum is classified as a surface-relieving herb with yin-nourishing properties. As a safe, delicious, time-tested “cooling herb” that disperses excess “heat” in the surface of the body, it has a thousand applications.According to traditional Chinese herbal theory, its functions include nourishing Yin, dispersing ascending Yang, dispersing wind and heat (especially from the face, head and upper body), brightening the eyes, relieving dry eyes (with or without tearing), relieving headaches, calming the liver and clearing liver heat. Chrysanthemum Flower is renowned for clearing the skin.
It is most famous and widely used to improve vision and clear heat from the eyes. Chrysanthemum Flower may help improve vision, and is used for a wide range of everyday eye problems such as eye strain, soreness and redness. Chrysanthemum Flower both nourishes the eyes and clears heat from the eyes. It is very widely used by those who tend to experience dry eyes, dry eyes with tearing or redness due to irritation by dust, wind, heat and allergies.
Chrysanthemum is also used in Asia to clear the mind. Consuming a relaxing cup of Chrysanthemum tea at bedtime is believed to improve one’s memory. For mental workers and students, it can help prevent or relieve migraines and headaches caused by too much thinking, reading, stress and computer work. Consumed during the day or in the evening, it helps relieve stress and tension.
For conditions that involve heat and inflammation, you may consult with your doctor or certified herbalist for other specific uses of this tea.
Most botanicals are woody and fibrous. The woody fiber (cell walls) generally makes most botanicals difficult to digest. Thousands of years ago, humans discovered that cooking, making teas, decoctions and soups with water and/or alcohol improved the potency and efficacy of the foods, beverages, tonics and medicines they consumed.
When a botanical is boiled in water or extracted in alcohol or other solvent, the constituents of the botanical are released from the fiber that contains them and are dissolved into the liquid medium. The resulting “tea,” or paste is highly assimilable. Also, it is much easier to consume because the material has been “reduced” to a much smaller volume and yet the potency is higher. Without the extraction, the body would have to do a digestive “extraction” of the materials bound to the fiber, adding much stress to our GI tract. Since we do not have the digestive tract of a ruminate, this “extraction” method is not very effective, nor is it efficient.
Of course, the technology back then was primitive, relying on simple stove boiling to break down cell walls. Amazingly, extraction technology has not changed much even during the industrial-scientific era - it is just performed on a much larger scale. We still rely on the application of heat to a tank of solvents such as water or alcohol for several hours until the constituents of the raw herbs have been released into the hot solvents.
However, the traditional heated extraction has its downsides besides its benefits.
- It is not suitable for extracting heat sensitive substances such as protein, amino acids, essential oils and enzymes.
- Starch and saccharides of low molecular weight can gelatinize and become cohesive under heat, preventing the effective release and extraction of active ingredients.
- Substances with no or few pharmacological effects can be released simultaneously.
- The heated process accelerates the oxidation process.
- It can result in polymerization and decomposition of active constituents.