Honeysuckle of the Caprifoliaceae Family: Benefits and Uses, Plus 5 Brewing Combinations to Boost Qi and Refresh the Mind

Honeysuckle is also called Japanese honeysuckle flower or honeysuckle vine. Honeysuckle is cold in nature and has excellent heat-clearing and detoxifying effects, and it is also a common traditional Chinese medicine in our daily life. Therefore, many people brew honeysuckle in water to drink. So what are the benefits and uses of honeysuckle? How do you brew it in water? What is good to combine with it?

I. Introduction to Honeysuckle

1. Other names for honeysuckle

The scientific name of honeysuckle is Lonicera japonica, a plant in the Caprifoliaceae family. It is also called honeysuckle vine, Japanese honeysuckle stem, mandarin duck grass, twin flower, hairy honeysuckle, two-treasure flower, and double-treasure flower.

2. Morphological characteristics of honeysuckle

Honeysuckle is a perennial semi-evergreen twining shrub with slender branchlets and brown to reddish-brown vines; opposite ovate leaves, with dense soft hairs and glandular hairs on both branches and leaves; it blooms in summer, with leaf-like bracts, labiate flowers with a light fragrance, soft hairs and glandular hairs on the outside, stamens and style extending beyond the corolla, flowers borne in pairs in the leaf axils, initially white and gradually turning yellow, with yellow and white complementing each other, hence the name honeysuckle; spherical berries, black when ripe.

3. Growing environment of honeysuckle

It grows in areas from 50-1500 m, mostly wild in relatively moist zones, such as along streams and rivers, on moist hillside thickets, and in sparse forests.

II. Benefits and Uses of Honeysuckle

Traditional Chinese medicine holds that honeysuckle is cold in nature, sweet in taste, and slightly sour, and therefore has the following 5 major benefits and uses.

1. Honeysuckle has heat-clearing and detoxifying benefits: honeysuckle is cold in nature and sweet in taste, and has a very good effect on clearing heat and detoxifying. It is used for various febrile diseases, such as fever, rash, macules, heat-toxin sores and carbuncles, and sore throat; in the hot summer, honeysuckle can be brewed in water to drink, which can relieve summer heat and cool the body.

2. Honeysuckle has the benefit of dispelling heat and eliminating pathogenic factors: honeysuckle is sweet and cold in nature with an aromatic qi. Being sweet and cold, it clears heat without harming the stomach; being aromatic and penetrating, it can also eliminate pathogenic factors. It can diffuse and disperse wind-heat, and has a certain effect on externally contracted wind-heat, fever and headache, insomnia and frequent dreaming, and dry throat and mouth.

3. Honeysuckle has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral benefits: honeysuckle has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral effects, so it can effectively inhibit diseases such as typhoid, dysentery, and influenza viruses in daily life. Honeysuckle also has a certain effect on the synthesis and release of adrenal hormones and can suppress inflammation.

4. Honeysuckle has the benefits of reducing inflammation, cooling the blood, dredging meridians and activating collaterals, and astringing: whether brewed in water or decocted, honeysuckle has a very good effect on cooling the blood, stopping dysentery, and clearing heat and detoxifying for symptoms such as blood heat, diarrhea and dysentery, and blood in the stool.

5. Honeysuckle has the benefit of regulating immunity: honeysuckle can promote the transformation of lymphocytes and improve human immunity.

III. Dietary Taboos of Honeysuckle

1. Honeysuckle is cold in nature, so note that it is best not to consume honeysuckle after it has sat overnight, so as to avoid affecting your health after the honeysuckle water spoils.

2. People with hepatitis B, a cold-deficiency constitution, spleen and stomach deficiency-cold, or those during menstruation should not drink it, otherwise it will have adverse effects on the body.

3. It is best not to drink honeysuckle after refrigeration, as this can easily cause diarrhea.

4. Honeysuckle water should not be drunk every day; it should only be taken when symptoms such as internal heat or inflammation appear.

5. Honeysuckle is best drunk in summer; the summer weather is hot, and honeysuckle can relieve summer heat and cool the body.

6. Honeysuckle is suitable for people with skin infections, various infectious diseases (enteritis, bacillary dysentery, measles, pneumonia), and tonsillitis.

IV. How do you brew honeysuckle in water?

Generally, honeysuckle is brewed with boiling water. Prepare 3-6 g of honeysuckle, put it in a cup, and pour in an appropriate amount of boiling water. The amount can be adjusted according to personal taste and the amount of water. Brew for 3-5 minutes and it is ready to drink. Do not drink it all at once each time; leave some and keep adding water.

V. What is good to combine with honeysuckle for drinking?

1. Honeysuckle combined with red dates: after adding honeysuckle to boiling water, directly add washed red dates. It can supplement qi and blood and also improve skin quality.

2. Honeysuckle combined with rock sugar: mix honeysuckle and rock sugar, add boiling water, and brew. It can refresh the mind, improve concentration, and clear internal heat from the body.

3. Honeysuckle combined with hawthorn: mix appropriate amounts of honeysuckle, hawthorn, and rock sugar, add boiling water, and brew. It can clear heat and dissipate stasis, improve appetite, and help with indigestion.

4. Honeysuckle combined with chrysanthemum: mix honeysuckle and chrysanthemum, add boiling water, and brew. It can relieve eye fatigue, clear heat and detoxify, and relieve summer heat and irritability.

5. Honeysuckle combined with goji berries: mix honeysuckle and goji berries, add boiling water, and brew. It can beautify the skin, clear heat and detoxify, and relieve irritability and moisten dryness.

In addition to the above methods, honeysuckle can also be combined with astragalus, rose, dried tangerine peel, and mint for drinking.

Conclusion: As stated above, I believe everyone has gained a certain understanding of the benefits and uses of honeysuckle. Honeysuckle tea is very suitable for people with internal heat, but remember not to drink it every day, and people with spleen and stomach deficiency-cold should not drink it either.