Expert: It is not recommended to blindly buy high-priced old tangerine peel
News from our newspaper (intern reporter Chai Rong) With the popularity of the TV series "Hurricane", tangerine peel has become a "new favorite" for health preservation, with prices doubling and sales soaring.
In this regard, Liu Yang, deputy chief pharmacist of the Pharmacy Department of Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, reminded that the more expensive the tangerine peel, the better, and consumers are not advised to blindly buy high-priced old tangerine peel.
Ordinary tangerine peels purchased in regular hospitals and pharmacies generally have guaranteed efficacy.
In the TV series "Hurricane", the protagonist Gao Qiqiang loves drinking tangerine peel tea the most. Whether it is giving gifts to guests or talking with people, he likes to make a pot of tangerine peel tea, and even uses tangerine peel tea to hangover.
With the popularity of TV dramas, the tangerine peel market, which had been silent for many years, suddenly became popular. A reporter found on a shopping platform that a small can of 250g gift packaging for a so-called 30-year-old tangerine peel sold for as high as 2,280 yuan.
According to Liu Yang, the main effects of tangerine peel are regulating qi, invigorating the spleen, drying dampness and resolving phlegm. It has a certain therapeutic effect on people who often suffer from abdominal fullness, cough with excessive phlegm, belching and hiccups.
At the same time, tangerine peel can lower blood lipids, and it is also suitable for patients with fatty liver and coronary heart disease.
"Because tangerine peel has the property of dryness and heat, it is not recommended to take tangerine peel for patients with yin deficiency and fire constitution, without qi stagnation, or patients with yellow sputum, otherwise it will make the condition worse." It is easy to cause internal anger to accumulate. Liu Yang reminded that the average person should not take more than 3 times a week with tangerine peel.
"The drinking method of tangerine peel is also very particular. It is not brewed directly like tea." Liu Yang said, before drinking, you must wash the dust on the surface of tangerine peel with water, drain the water, put it in a cup or teapot, and soak it in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes, then cover and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes.
After several refills of water until tasteless, you can chew the remaining tangerine peel.
Many people like to add tangerine peel to seasoning when cooking and making soup. In this regard, Liu Yang said that tangerine peel is a kind of medicine with the same origin as medicine and food, and it is also a good condiment. It has the effect of increasing flavor and freshness, and cooking with meat can also relieve greasiness.
When cooking, you only need to cook the tangerine peel and the ingredients together.
But it is also necessary to control the frequency, and eat dishes containing tangerine peel at most 2 times a week.
The taste of old tangerine peel is often better than that of new tangerine peel. There is a saying in Guangdong, the main producing area of tangerine peel, "one tael of tangerine peel and one tael of gold, and a century old tangerine peel is better than gold."
Tangerine peels with higher prices are usually stored for a longer period of time, some even reaching 15 or 20 years, while those with relatively cheap prices may only be stored for three or four years.
"The more expensive the tangerine peel, the better. The market stock of old tangerine peel is small. As the years grow, the tangerine peel itself will be consumed due to damage, moths and mold, so the cost of the merchant is higher." Liu Yang said, it is not recommended to blindly buy high-priced old tangerine peel .
Ordinary tangerine peels purchased in regular hospitals and pharmacies generally have guaranteed efficacy.
After learning about the efficacy of tangerine peel, some people dry their leftover orange peel in their daily life and use it as homemade tangerine peel.
Liu Yang said that this approach is wrong.
Only the ripe citrus peels that have been naturally aged for more than 3 years can be called tangerine peels.
Drying the tangerine peel by yourself is easy to cause mold and deterioration of the tangerine peel due to improper methods, humid climate and other reasons.
Once eaten, it is easy to cause damage to the stomach, liver and kidneys.
In addition, the surface of homemade tangerine peel is also prone to pesticide residues, soaking it in water and drinking it may have adverse effects on health.
"Beijing Daily" February 20, 2023, Page 6