The Benefits and Effects of Jasmine (Chicken-Claw Flower), Its Differences from Frangipani, and How to Eat It

Jasmine, also known as chicken-claw flower, is a distinctive plant that grows in the Lingnan region. It combines ornamental and medicinal value in one, and in ancient times it was the favorite adornment of local women. It is a beautiful, alluring plant with a faint fragrance. Sodo you understand the benefits and effects of jasmine (chicken-claw flower)? What is the difference between it and frangipani? What ways are there to eat it?

1. What are the benefits and effects of jasmine?

1. The benefits of jasmine:

Used as medicine, it has the effects of promoting qi flow, regulating menstruation, relieving pain, clearing heat, and dispersing nodules. It mainly treats stomach pain, hepatitis, irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea, vaginal discharge, stomatitis, itchy skin, orchitis, mastitis, and lymph node tuberculosis.

Some also use it clinically to treat pain caused by liver cancer, stomach cancer, and intestinal cancer, and it can also be used to treat anemia caused by various reasons, with remarkable efficacy.

2. The effects of jasmine:

(1) Nourishing and protecting the liver

Jasmine not only has a simple, elegant fragrance that can bring people a pleasant mood; its greatest effect is nourishing and protecting the liver, and it can be called the “depression-relieving flower” for soothing the liver and regulating qi. This plant has a very good nourishing effect on the liver. After entering the human body, it can eliminate the harm caused by viruses to the liver and also accelerate the regeneration of liver cells. In daily life, it has good health benefits for chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. In spring, when jasmine is abundantly available, it is also a good season for nourishing the liver. At this time, people can make jasmine and lean meat into soup to eat.

(2) Beauty and skin care

Jasmine also has beauty and skin-care effects. It is said that as early as the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian often used jasmine for beauty care, which was how she maintained a youthful and alluring appearance. When bathing, people can directly add jasmine to the bathtub and soak in it, allowing the skin to slowly absorb it. They can also process jasmine into jasmine bath water and apply it directly to the skin. Jasmine bath water is the liquid obtained by steaming dried jasmine in water.

(3) Treating stomatitis

Jasmine also has a certain therapeutic effect on stomatitis. For treatment, jasmine needs to be decocted into a thick juice, and then this medicinal juice is used to rinse the mouth. Used four to five times a day, it can make the symptoms of stomatitis disappear in two to three days. In addition, jasmine also has a good washing-treatment effect on skin itching. An appropriate amount of jasmine can be decocted with water into a medicinal juice, and then the affected area can be directly washed with it, and the itching will disappear.

2. What is the difference between jasmine and frangipani?

1. Leaf differences

Jasmine leaves are opposite, with 5-9 leaflets or deeply pinnatifid. The leaflets are long-ovate or ovate, the terminal leaflet is narrowly prismatic, the apex is acute or acuminate, and the base is cuneate or rounded. Frangipani leaves, however, are oblong-obovate or long-elliptic, with a short-acuminate apex and a narrowly cuneate base.

2. Flower differences

Jasmine has cymes that are axillary or terminal, with 2-9 flowers. The bracts are linear, the calyx is hairless, the lobes are conical-linear, and the flowers are white. Frangipani, however, has cymes that are all terminal, the pedicels are pale red, the calyx lobes are ovate, and the flowers are white on the outside and yellow on the inside.

3. What are the ways to eat jasmine?

1. Lean meat and jasmine soup

First, cut freshly picked daylily into small sections. If there is no fresh daylily, dried daylily can also be soaked until soft and then cut into small sections. Cut lean meat into relatively small strips, add an appropriate amount of clear water, boil the above ingredients over high heat, then turn to low heat and simmer the soup for one hour. Add jasmine and simmer briefly, and it is ready. It also has the effects of relieving summer heat and stopping bleeding.

2. Fresh flower and herb beauty soup

Three each of rose, hibiscus, and jasmine, and an appropriate amount of winter melon. First, add an appropriate amount of water and cook the winter melon for three minutes, then add the other flowers and cook for 5 minutes. Add sugar or salt according to personal taste. It has the effects of detoxifying and promoting urination.

3. Jasmine and jujube porridge

3-5 jasmine flowers, 8-10 jujubes, one handful of rice, and an appropriate amount of water. First, decoct the jasmine in water to obtain the juice, then add it to the rice and jujubes and cook into porridge. The taste is fragrant and unique, and it has the effect of regulating qi and resolving blood stasis.

4. Rose and jasmine tea

Take 6 grams each of rose and jasmine, put them into a pot, first rinse them with warm water, then pour in boiling water, and drink once warm. Rose, like jasmine, has the effect of soothing the liver and relieving depression, and can also regulate qi and invigorate blood, treating liver-stomach qi pain and reduced appetite with nausea and vomiting. When combined with jasmine, the two become one, and the effect is stronger.