Cogon grass needle (cogon grass root): which month does it sprout? How to eat this childhood delicacy and its benefits

Cogon grass needle is the flower spike of cogon grass at the bud stage after the young leaf shoots first emerge, and it is a country delicacy. In rural areas of various provinces, it is also called cogon grass, maomao needle, white cogon grass, cogon grass root and cogon line, and each place has its own different folk name. So which month does the cogon grass needle sprout? How do you eat it? What benefits does it have?

Which month does the cogon grass needle sprout?

Wild food after spring begins with the cogon grass needle, “once spring begins, run barefoot, pick shepherd's purse, pull cogon grass needles.” March is when the cogon grass needle sends out tender shoots, which is the best time to pull them and the best time to eat them. In the countryside, in early spring, the cogon grass needle is a “delicacy” that children can pick at will.

The “Illustrated Study of the Objects in the Mao Edition of the Book of Songs” says, “cogon grass sends out shoots in spring like needles, and these are called cogon grass needles.” The cogon grass needle is the green stem that cogon grass puts out, about two or three cun long, emerald green and smooth and round, with a pointed tip, like a thin, long sewing needle. The very tip is purplish red, and the whole thing is covered in fine, dense down; it feels soft to the touch.

How to eat cogon grass needle

Cogon grass needle is the flower bud of the grass, also called ground tea leaf. Cogon grass needle has good health-preserving and dietary-therapy effects. Although many people are not very familiar with cogon grass needle, if it is consciously used in daily life, it can still have good health benefits. Below, the editor introduces how to eat cogon grass needle.

1. Fresh and tender cogon grass needles can be eaten directly, because cogon grass needles contain a relatively high sugar content, so they taste sweet, and cogon grass needles are cool and cold in nature, so they can have a certain heat-clearing and diuretic effect.

2. Fresh and tender cogon grass needles can be boiled into soup, especially in summer, and are very refreshing in the heat.

3. Fresh and tender cogon grass needles can be brewed into tea, especially for patients who feel unwell, such as those with stomach vomiting or persistent high fever; cogon grass needle tea can be drunk as water, a bit more of it.

4. After drying, cogon grass needle is used as a Chinese medicinal material. Because cogon grass needle has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and hemostatic effects, it is used in many medicinal applications, but most of the time it needs to be decocted into juice together with other medicinal materials before being taken.

Benefits of cogon grass needle

Although cogon grass needle looks unremarkable, its effects should not be underestimated; it can be said that great energy is contained in a small rhizome. In China's traditional Chinese medicine system, cogon grass needle is not as well known as ginseng and deer antler, but in many prescriptions it is an essential medicinal material. Below, the editor introduces the benefits of cogon grass needle.

1. Cogon grass needle has a diuretic effect. Taken as a decoction with water, white cogon grass root has an obvious diuretic effect.

2. Cogon grass needle has a hemostatic effect. Sprinkling cogon grass needle powder on a bleeding area and pressing for 1 or 2 minutes can stop the bleeding.

3. Cogon grass needle has the effect of treating acute nephritis. The principle is that cogon grass needle can relieve spasm of the glomerular blood vessels, increasing renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate, thereby producing a diuretic effect. At the same time as diuresis, blood pressure gradually returns to normal, renin decreases, and renal ischemia improves. It should be noted that cogon grass needle is quite effective for acute nephritis, but has little effect on chronic nephritis, and almost no effect on edema caused by liver disease and heart disease.

4. Cogon grass needle has an antibacterial effect. Experiments have shown that cogon grass needle has an obvious inhibitory effect on Flexner and Sonne dysentery bacilli.

5. Cogon grass needle has an inhibitory effect on metabolism. This is because cogon grass needle contains coixol, which can inhibit the contraction and metabolism of skeletal muscle.

6. Cogon grass needle has the effect of treating high blood pressure.

7. Cogon grass needle has the effect of treating gastrointestinal bleeding, though it needs to be taken together with agrimony.

8. In addition to having therapeutic significance for the above conditions, some common diseases in life, such as febrile disease with vexation and thirst, stomach heat with vomiting, lung heat with wheezing and coughing, edema, and jaundice, can all be treated with cogon grass needle, though other medicinal materials are needed to assist. Below we will learn about commonly used cogon grass needle medicinal formulas in daily life.

1) Formula for treating internal injury bleeding: cogon grass needle 60g, white sugar 15g, kalimeris root 30g. First decoct the cogon grass needle and kalimeris root, then add white sugar at the end for flavor.

2) Formula for treating blood in urine: cogon grass needle 60g, plantain herb 30g, small thistle 30g, decocted in water and taken.

3) Formula for treating coughing blood from pulmonary tuberculosis: fresh cogon grass needle 60g, charred Chinese arborvitae leaf 20g, charred lotus rhizome node 15g, charred gardenia fruit 15g, agrimony root 15g.

4) Formula for treating nausea and vomiting: cogon grass needle 80g, fresh reed rhizome 60g. After chopping, decoct into 500ml of medicinal juice and take continuously for 3 to 5 days.

5) Formula for treating heat strangury with difficult urination: cogon grass needle 90g, plantain herb 30g.

6) Formula for treating ascites due to cirrhosis: cogon grass needle 300g, taken in two doses.

7) Formula for treating chyluria: cogon grass needle 250g, vervain 20g, shepherd's purse 30g.

8) For treating persistent body heat after the rash of measles has fully appeared, cogon grass needle 50g, decocted in water and taken.

9) For treating thirst and frequent drinking after high fever, cogon grass needle 100g, kudzu root 30g, decocted in water and taken.

Nowadays, although all kinds of snacks and treats are becoming more and more abundant, if there is a chance, I really still want to go to the fields and stop on the field ridges. To pull cogon grass roots again, and recall once more that fragrant cogon grass root with a hint of sweetness, that unforgettable taste of childhood. What remains is only memory. I think children today will not go to the fields like that and “without restraint” eat cogon grass roots with their friends, carefree.