What is Poria?,a Humble, but Famous Mushroom, the poria cocos and its widely functional use.
Contents
Varieties and Grading.:
Poria is not an expensive herb. But some Poria is better than others. Try to find large, white pieces. The best Poria is still slightly moist---or at least, not very dry and brittle. There is also a variety known as pink Poria, which has stronger Shen tonic effects. It has a slight pink tint.
Poria is normally white in color, and also called "white poria". The variant with light red color is called "red poria".
Indian Bread is the dried sclerotium of the fungus, Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf (Fam. Polyporaceae). The drug is collected mostly in July to September, removed from soil, piled up, spread, and air-dried on the surface. Repeat this operation for several times until wrinkles appears and the inside water evaporated, then dired in the shade. It is known as "Fulingge". Or the fresh sclerotium is cut and dried in the air. According to the cut portions, and known as "Fulingpi" and "Fulingkuai", respectively.
Origin:
The underground sclerotium of Poria cocos, a fungus of the family Polyporaceae. The fungus is mostly parasitic on the root of Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc.or Pinus massiniana Lamb. (masson pine), a plant of Pinaceae. It is an edible pore fungus known in the United States under the Indian name tuckahoe, may reach a diameter of 20 to 25 centimetres.
Tuckahoe grows wild or is cultivated. In China, it is mainly produced in Yunnan, Hubei, Sichuan, etc. The herb is harvested in July or September. Procedure: Pile the fungi up until they "sweat", spread them out, dry in the sun, let them "sweat" again and dry in the air, repeating the process in this way 3 to 4 times, and finally drying them in the air until fully dried for use when raw.
Harvest and Processing:
Dig out wild Indian Bread mostly in pine forests from July to the following March, or collect cultivated Indian Bread between July and August in the second year after inoculation. Heap up fresh Indian Bread to let moisture evaporate; repeat a few times until wrinkles show on the outer surface and most moisture on the inside has been driven out; dry in shaded areas to produce ' Fuling ge' (Intact Indian Bread).
Reference:
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- 1.What is Poria?,a Humble, but Famous Mushroom, the poria cocos and its widely functional use.
This article written and edited via herbalist of MDidea Extracts Professional. They run a range of online descriptions about this herb,including general information related and summarized updating discoveries from findings of professional scientisits this field related.Describe style aimed to form a useful detecting literature space where the intertwined threshold and related questions raise out and visualize themselves.
♣ last edit date:13th,Oct.2010.
