Now is the peak season for grapefruit availability. Beyond being a low-sugar, delicious fruit, both its flesh and peel serve as traditional Chinese medicine ingredients with unique therapeutic effects for minor ailments. Grapefruit is considered sweet and sour in taste, cold in nature, and associated with the liver, spleen, and stomach meridians. It is believed to regulate qi, transform phlegm, aid digestion, and alleviate hangovers. Here are a few simple, clever grapefruit remedies worth trying:
Grapefruit and Poria Decoction for Edema Relief.Take 50g pomelo pulp, 9g poria, 9g white atractylodes, 6g licorice, and rock sugar to taste. Add cold water to a pot, then place the diced pomelo pulp, poria, white atractylodes, and licorice inside. Simmer over low heat until reduced to a juice. Strain the liquid, discarding the solids. Pour into a cup, add rock sugar, and stir until dissolved. Let cool before drinking.
In this formula, pomelo is rich in vitamin C and other components. Modern research suggests it aids weight loss and promotes skin health. Poria, with a bland-sweet taste and neutral nature, drains dampness, strengthens the spleen, calms the mind, and is a key herb for reducing edema.Atractylodes, with a sweet and bitter taste and warm nature, enters the spleen and stomach meridians. It tonifies qi, strengthens the spleen, dries dampness, promotes diuresis, and stops sweating. Clinically, it is often used for symptoms such as poor appetite, loose stools or diarrhea, edema, and phlegm retention caused by spleen qi deficiency, impaired transformation and transportation, and internal accumulation of dampness.Licorice root (甘草) tonifies the spleen and qi, clears heat and detoxifies, and harmonizes the actions of other herbs. Combined, these ingredients strengthen the spleen, drain dampness, moisturize the skin for whitening, and reduce edema for weight loss.
Pomelo and dried tangerine peel tea (柚子陈皮茶) stops vomiting. Take 1 pomelo (juiced), 9g dried tangerine peel, and 6g ginger. Add an appropriate amount of brown sugar, decoct together, and drink. Take one dose daily for several consecutive days.
In this formula, pomelo effectively addresses food stagnation. Dried tangerine peel, bitter and pungent with a warm nature, enters the spleen and lung meridians. It regulates qi, strengthens the spleen, dries dampness, transforms phlegm, and dispels distension, making it ideal for treating spleen-stomach qi stagnation, epigastric fullness, poor appetite, vomiting, and diarrhea.Ginger, pungent and mildly warm, enters the Spleen, Stomach, and Lung meridians. It dispels exterior cold, warms the middle to stop vomiting, transforms phlegm, and relieves cough. It is particularly effective for cold pain in the epigastrium, poor appetite, and vomiting caused by spleen-stomach deficiency-cold, earning it the reputation as the "sacred medicine for vomiting."Combined, these ingredients effectively treat halitosis, nausea and vomiting, postpartum lochia retention, and gastric distension discomfort.
Within this formula, pomelo demonstrates notable efficacy against coughs. As documented in Compendium of Materia Medica, removing seeds from pomelo segments, soaking them in sealed wine overnight, then simmering until tender and mixing with honey creates an excellent remedy for post-cold coughs when taken frequently.Dried Chinese cabbage, used in medicinal cuisine, clears heat, relieves irritability, quenches thirst, promotes urination, facilitates digestion, and clears lung heat. It is suitable for treating colds, whooping cough, bleeding from peptic ulcers, dry heat coughs, and laryngitis with hoarseness. Reed root, sweet and cold in nature, enters the lung and stomach meridians. It clears heat, drains fire, generates fluids to quench thirst, relieves irritability, and promotes urination.Combined, these ingredients treat dry coughs and thirst caused by lung dryness. Regular consumption during the dry autumn and winter seasons moistens the lungs and relieves coughs.
Boiling pomelo peel in water treats chilblains. Pomelo peel also has medicinal uses. Traditional Chinese medicine considers it pungent, sweet, and bitter in taste, warm in nature, and entering the spleen, lung, and kidney meridians. It has the effects of relieving chest congestion, promoting digestion, resolving phlegm, and stopping coughs and wheezing. It is commonly used for symptoms such as chest tightness due to qi stagnation, cold pain in the epigastrium and abdomen, food stagnation, diarrhea with dysentery, coughing and wheezing, and hernia.
Externally, grapefruit peel treats frostbite. Boil sun-dried peel until the liquid thickens, then apply the warm decoction as a compress to affected areas. Avoid excessive heat initially; gradually increase temperature as skin adapts. Do not apply to broken skin. Consistent long-term compresses promote healing and prevent recurrence.