Shepherd's purse: A precious medicinal herb nourishing the liver, brightening the eyes, and lowering blood lipids

Shepherd's purse: A precious medicinal herb nourishing the liver, brightening the eyes, and lowering blood lipids

The vegetable mentioned here is shepherd's purse. In our country, shepherd's purse also has several other names such as cây tề, địa mễ thái, cải dại, and cỏ tam giác. Scientific name: Capsella Bursa - pastoris (L.) Medik. In particular, the plant grows wild in northern Vietnam, most abundantly in the region of Sa Pa (Lao Cai), Ninh Binh, Lang Son, Cao Bang... commonly found on wastelands.

This is a fresh, delicious wild vegetable that is widely loved. Shepherd's purse not only provides the body with an abundant source of nutrition in winter, but is also a "treasure" in cooking. Shepherd's purse has tender green leaves, rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, calcium, and other nutrients.

Usually in the freezing winter, this wild vegetable is both delicious and provides essential nutrients for the body, making it an ideal choice to nourish and maintain health.

According to traditional Eastern medicine, shepherd's purse has a mild sweet taste and cool properties; entering the liver and stomach meridians. It has the effects of clearing heat, relieving cough, stopping bleeding, diuresis, reducing swelling, and relieving asthma. It tonifies the spleen and invigorates the stomach, clears the liver and brightens the eyes, stops bleeding, and promotes urination. It is used for cases of nosebleeds, hematemesis, hemoptysis, hematuria, bloody stools, conjunctivitis and swelling, edema, aches and pains...

In the book "Compendium of Materia Medica" (the Chinese herbal encyclopedia), it is recorded that: shepherd's purse can benefit the liver and the five internal organs; the roots can be used to treat eye pain, brighten the eyes, and make the stomach healthier; the seeds can support the treatment of eye pain, nourish the five internal organs, and treat chronic dysentery.

Along with its high nutritional value, the shepherd's purse plant is also a precious medicinal herb in medicine, capable of helping improve immunity. Both Eastern and Western medicine use shepherd's purse as a hemostatic agent, to treat fever, and as a diuretic, used in cases of intestinal and uterine bleeding, hemoptysis, and menorrhagia.

This vegetable is rich in carotene, making it a good food for treating dry eye syndrome and night blindness. The nutrients in shepherd's purse help reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood and liver, lower blood pressure, and reduce inflammation.

Shepherd's purse is known to have the effects of clearing heat, brightening the eyes (improving vision), and reducing inflammation. Therefore, in traditional medicine, there is a very good remedy for blurred vision and liver heat made from shepherd's purse: picking fresh greens to cook porridge and eat daily. This dish nourishes the liver, and eating it regularly will help brighten the eyes.

Eating a lot of this vegetable can boost vitamin C levels in the body, providing antiviral effects. This wild plant also contains a large amount of crude fiber, which after consumption can increase large intestine peristalsis, prevent constipation, and thereby enhance metabolism.

Thereby helping to prevent and treat hyperlipidemia, hypertension, coronary heart disease, obesity, diabetes, colorectal cancer...

Dr. Nguyen Duc Quang shared several remedies using shepherd's purse on Sức khỏe & Đời sống.

- Treating bloody dysentery: 30g of shepherd's purse charred or carbonized, decocted for drinking.

- Treating pulmonary abscess, chest fullness and tightness, shortness of breath, or generalized edema: 20g of dried shepherd's purse, 5 jujubes. Cut or tear the jujubes; decoct together with shepherd's purse, drink 1 dose per day.

- Treating ascites, emaciated limbs, scanty urination: 100g of shepherd's purse, 100g of Descurainia sophia seeds (đình lịch tử). Grind into a fine powder, make honey pills of 10g each. Take 3 times daily, 1 pill each time, with dried tangerine peel decoction.

Dosage: 50 - 100g of fresh plant, 10 - 15g in dried form; decocted, juiced, or combined with other herbs.

How to prepare delicious, nutritious shepherd's purse

Shepherd's purse, scallop, and egg soup

According to Giao Thong newspaper, to cook this delicious dish, you need to prepare the ingredients: shepherd's purse, scallops, eggs, ginger slices, salt, and cooking oil. Instructions: Wash the shepherd's purse clean, and cut into bite-sized lengths. Wash the scallops clean, drain, then put them into a pot and steam over high heat until the shells open; pry out the scallop meat and set aside. Crack 2 eggs into a bowl and beat well. Heat oil in a pot, pour in the beaten egg, stir-fry until the egg curds form, then add water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the scallop meat, add the shepherd's purse, bring to a boil, season with salt, pepper, and sesame oil to taste, and serve.

Shepherd's purse and pork soup

100g fresh shepherd's purse, 80 - 100g pork bones. Simmer pork bones until tender, then add finely chopped shepherd's purse, and season with salt and fish sauce. Eat 1 - 2 times a day with main meals. Used for cases of nosebleeds, hematuria, red eyes...

Shepherd's purse cornmeal cakes

Cách làm:

- Wash shepherd's purse clean and chop finely. Wash fresh shiitake mushrooms clean, blanch, let cool, squeeze out excess water, cut into thin slices, and set aside. Shred carrots thinly. Soak wood ear mushrooms until soft, then cut into bite-sized pieces.

Fry the eggs until cooked, then cut into pieces. Soak dried shrimp in water until soft, then remove and drain.

- Put the shepherd's purse, carrots, wood ear mushrooms, eggs, shredded dried shrimp, wood ear mushrooms, dried shrimp, and prepared eggs into a large bowl, add a little salt and cooking oil, and mix well to make the filling.

- Take a sufficient amount of filling, gently roll it evenly, shape into a ball, and roll it in cornmeal. Remember to roll it 3–4 times so the cornmeal absorbs the moisture of the filling, allowing the filling to be coated with a moderate layer of cornmeal.

- Place the cornmeal cakes into a pot, steam over high heat with steam for 10 minutes, then take them out to eat.

If you harvest a lot of shepherd's purse now and cannot eat it all, you can preserve it for later consumption.