Honey-fried licorice root

Licorice root stir-baked with honey, sold as glossy yellow-brown oval slices. Intensely sweet, a couple of slices, about six grams, are enough to round and harmonise a whole tonic soup pack; it is a supporting seasoning-herb rather than a bulk ingredient.

TCM properties

Nature · neutral　Flavour · sweet　Meridians · heart、lung、spleen、stomach

Traditional food therapy

In the tradition it is the harmoniser, tonifying qi and the spleen, moistening the lungs and mellowing every other herb in the pot; hence its standing place in ten-treasure style tonic packs.

Cautions: read first

• Not for people heavy with damp and bloated, or holding water
• Not to be used with 甘遂 (kansui), 大戟 (euphorbia), 芫花 (genkwa) or 海藻 (sargassum), under the classical 十八反 list of eighteen clashes
• Taken long term or in large amounts it can cause water and sodium retention, raised blood pressure and low potassium. Take care if you have high blood pressure.
• For the full 十全大補湯 formula: not while you have a cold with fever, not for dry heat or yin deficiency with rising fire, and pregnant women need a practitioner's guidance

Preparation

It goes straight into the soup bag. Use a small amount, about 6 g a pot.

Origin · Geo-authentic (道地) source

Inner Mongolia (Liangwai licorice) and Gansu

Availability in Australia

Herbal shops / specialists

Pairs well with