Baofei Xueli Gao: A Half-Medicine, Half-Food White-Pear Paste for Protecting the Lung
In Chongding Tongsu Shanghan Lun (Revised Popular Treatise on Cold-Damage) there is an electuary called "Baofei Xueli Gao" (Lung-Protecting Snow-Pear Paste). Its composition is: snow pears 60 (pressed for juice), unprocessed rehmannia (Shengdi), cogongrass rhizome (Baimaogen), and fresh lotus root, each an appropriate amount (these together yield 1.5 liters of juice); white radish, Ophiopogon (Maidong), and water chestnut (Biqi), each an appropriate amount (these together yield 750 ml of juice). Mix all the juices, add white honey 500 g, maltose 250 g, fresh bamboo sap (Zhuli) 150 ml, and persimmon frost (Shishuang) 30 g, and simmer together into an electuary. Take 30–50 ml each time, dissolved in boiled water after meals and before bedtime.
Baofei Xueli Gao nourishes yin and moistens dryness, resolves phlegm and stops cough. It is indicated for lung dryness with dry cough and bleeding; lung atrophy (fei wei) with bleeding; and lung abscess (fei yong) whose main tide has receded but residual heat remains.
In this formula, snow pear, fresh lotus root, white radish, water chestnut, white honey, maltose, and persimmon frost are all foodstuffs, making full use of the therapeutic action of common ingredients; only unprocessed rehmannia, cogongrass rhizome, Ophiopogon, and fresh bamboo sap are medicinals. Unprocessed rehmannia clears heat and cools the blood, and also supplements blood and invigorates it; cogongrass rhizome cools the blood and stops bleeding; Ophiopogon nourishes yin and moistens the lung, and also expels phlegm and stops cough; fresh bamboo sap clears heat, resolves phlegm, and stops cough. These herbs all belong to the category of those that nourish yin, descend fire, moisten dryness, and stop cough.
Snow pear is a fruit we commonly use in daily life to stop cough; many people know that snow-pear rock-sugar soup moistens the lung and stops cough, and like to stew rock-sugar snow-pear soup for the family in winter. Fresh lotus root also generates fluids and moistens dryness, stops cough and bleeding; white radish moves qi and disperses distension, clears heat and promotes diuresis; water chestnut nourishes yin and clears heat, quenches thirst and generates fluids; white honey and maltose both supplement the center and moisten dryness, fortify the spleen and stop cough, but diabetics should omit these two when using this formula. Persimmon frost moistens the lung and stops cough, generates fluids and soothes the throat, and stops bleeding; because it is high in sugar, diabetics should also not use persimmon frost. Taken together, these foodstuffs also provide symptomatic treatment for lung-heat-type cough.
Such an electuary made by combining foodstuffs with medicinals tastes good and is suitable for long-term use by patients with chronic disease.