"A top blood-nourishing tonic for women" - How much does a box of donkey-hide gelatin (Ejiao) cost? Which season is best for eating it? How much is suitable to eat each day? How long is the shelf life generally?
Ejiao, as a premium tonic, has always been highly sought after because of its excellent beauty and blood-nourishing effects, especially among women. Generally speaking, women who regularly eat Ejiao can not only nourish their complexion and beautify themselves, but also strengthen their bodies. So how much does Ejiao cost per box? Which season is best for eating it? How much is suitable to eat each day?
According to experts, Ejiao is a food-and-medicine dual-use tonic with a mild nature, and it can be eaten in all four seasons. It is just that eating it in winter gives the best effect.
Ejiao is a rich, cloying tonic. When taken in hot weather, it is not easy to digest and absorb. In addition, Ejiao is generally taken over a long period. If it is not stored properly, especially in high ambient temperatures, it easily deteriorates, and the amount used in summer should not be too large. In winter, when it is cold, the human body needs to increase heat, and appetite is strong, which is beneficial for the absorption of Ejiao. As for the time of day, it is best to take it between half an hour and one hour after finishing breakfast and lunch. People with poor digestion should take it within this time window.
How much Ejiao is suitable to eat each day?
The general dosage of Ejiao is 3-10 grams, which can be adjusted according to individual constitution, but it should not exceed 12 grams at most. Eating too much Ejiao at one time can cause bloating, diarrhea, internal heat, and constipation. People with diarrhea, internal heat, or indigestion should use it with caution.
Ejiao is generally taken after being melted (that is, dissolved, steamed, or double-boiled until melted) and mixed with liquid. It is recommended to take it 30 minutes after a meal. Ejiao is a gelatin-type medicine with strong stickiness, so it should be heated and melted with water or yellow rice wine before taking, or it can be taken by mixing it into a decocted medicinal liquid.
What is Ejiao made from?
Ejiao, also known as Penfu gelatin or donkey-hide gelatin, is a gelatin block made by boiling donkey hide.
Its production method is as follows: first scrape the hair off the donkey hide, cut it into small pieces, add water, and boil for 3 days and nights. When the liquid becomes thick and concentrated, take out the donkey hide pieces and add water to boil again. Ejiao identification method: Ejiao is also called donkey-hide gelatin. It is a gelatin block made by removing the hair from the hide of the donkey, an animal of the Equidae family, and boiling it.
Ejiao is a special-effect medicine. Stir-frying Ejiao with clam powder can improve its effects of clearing heat, moistening the lungs, resolving phlegm, and dissipating nodules; stir-frying Ejiao with cattail pollen can enhance its blood-nourishing effect. Medicine identification: Ejiao appears as neat square blocks, usually about 3 cm long, about 3 cm wide, and about 0.5-0.7 cm thick.
The surface is brown-black or brown-red, smooth and glossy, with a faint odor and a slightly sweet taste. When held to the light, it is transparent; it is hard in texture and easily broken, and the color of the cross-section is the same as the surface. The best quality is straight and dry, brown-black in color, glossy, transparent, free of fishy or foul odor, and not soft after passing through summer.
What effects and functions does Ejiao have
The national pharmacopoeia clearly stipulates that Ejiao made by boiling donkey hide is the authentic product. Ejiao is mainly composed of collagen, and its hydrolysis yields gelatin, protein, and various amino acids. The protein content of Ejiao is about 60%-80%, and it contains 18 amino acids (including 7 essential amino acids for the human body) and nearly 20 trace elements. It has effects such as resisting anemia, promoting the growth of red blood cells and hemoglobin in the blood, enhancing human immune function, resisting fatigue, preventing aging, maintaining calcium balance in the body, and promoting calcium absorption.
How much does a box of Ejiao cost
The price of Ejiao is not fixed. Different brands of Ejiao have different prices. Good Ejiao is made by selecting premium donkey hide, soaking it in clean water for two or three days, then removing the hair, cutting it into small pieces, and after complex procedures of repeated boiling, air-drying, and so on, it can be cut into blocks and leave the factory. About every 3 kg of donkey hide can produce only 1 kg of gelatin. According to the current market price of donkey hide, the price of Ejiao tablets, as well as raw gelatin powder made by crushing Ejiao tablets or vacuum-drying Ejiao raw liquid, should generally not be lower than 1200 yuan per jin; otherwise, it is very difficult to guarantee the quality.
How long is the shelf life of Ejiao generally?
Ejiao is better the older it is. Strictly speaking, Ejiao has no shelf life. As long as there is no mold or abnormal odor on the surface, it can be eaten. Experiments have shown that if authentic Ejiao is stored properly, its effects can indeed remain intact after a hundred years. The reason a shelf-life date is put on it is that the state later stipulated that all medicines must have a storage-period limit, so there is a five-year storage period. If kept in a cool, dry place, as long as it does not weather, the longer Ejiao is kept, the better, and its drying nature will also be eliminated, so eating it will not cause internal heat.
The shelf life of Ejiao is generally five years, but if it is stored normally in a cool, dry place, it can generally be kept for a longer time. As long as the appearance shows no deformation, it has only a slight fishy or foul odor when smelled, and the surface is smooth and translucent, it is generally fine.
In fact, as far as the therapeutic effect of Ejiao is concerned, it is widely believed that aged Ejiao has a better effect. This is because, as time passes, the main volatile substances in Ejiao, such as cadaverine, trimethylamine, indole, and other nitrogen-containing substances, gradually volatilize, causing the “heatiness” of Ejiao to gradually approach zero, so the symptoms of internal heat after eating it will decrease or even disappear.
How is Ejiao eaten?
Ejiao and red date sweet soup
Ingredients: 30 g red dates, 10 g Ejiao, an appropriate amount of brown sugar.
Method: Remove the pits from the red dates, add an appropriate amount of water, and simmer until about 300 ml of concentrated red date water remains. Take out the red date residue and set aside. Add the Ejiao to the concentrated red date water, heat until it melts, then add back the red date residue, put in an appropriate amount of brown sugar, melt and mix well, and it is ready to drink.
Effects: Nourishes blood, regulates menstruation, and warms the middle.
Ejiao stewed eggs
Ingredients: 10 g Ejiao, 1 egg, an appropriate amount of rock sugar.
Method: Melt the Ejiao with an appropriate amount of warm water and set aside; dissolve an appropriate amount of rock sugar in water and set aside; beat the egg and stir evenly into egg liquid and set aside; mix the melted Ejiao water and the dissolved rock sugar water into the egg liquid (the ratio of water to ingredients is 1:1), carefully skim off the foam, steam over water for 15 minutes, and it is ready to eat.
Who should not eat Ejiao?
1. People prone to internal heat
For example, people with heart fire, liver fire, lung fire, or even yin deficiency with fire. If they use only Ejiao, they may still experience the situation of being too deficient to tolerate tonics, and the internal heat will become stronger and stronger.
2. People with heavy damp pathogens in the body
This may manifest as dry mouth, bitter taste in the mouth, sticky mouth, fatigue, dizziness or mental fog, abdominal bloating, and poor bowel movements. The most important sign is a thick, greasy tongue coating, either white or yellow.
3. People with wounds
Ejiao invigorates blood, so if there is a wound, it cannot be eaten immediately. Wait until the wound has scabbed over before eating it; otherwise, the wound will not heal.
4. People with blood stasis in the body
Complexion dull and dark, pigmentation, prone to bruises, dim lips, dark tongue or tongue with petechiae, purple-dark or thickened sublingual veins, and choppy pulse. Women often have poor menstruation, generally delayed periods, blood clots, abdominal pain, dark color, and short duration of bleeding, and so on
5. People with spleen deficiency
That is, people with low digestive function, mainly manifesting as little food intake, loose or rotten stools or stools that are first dry then loose, fatigue and lack of strength, and sallow complexion, etc. Although there is no rule that people with spleen deficiency cannot eat Ejiao, Ejiao is sticky and thick and easily obstructs spleen and stomach function. In particular, patients with spleen deficiency, qi stagnation, little food intake, and abdominal distension are not suitable to eat it. If they must eat it, it needs to be combined with qi-regulating and food-digesting medicines to restrain the cloying nature of Ejiao.
6. People with yang deficiency
After taking it, people with yang deficiency may also experience symptoms such as poor appetite, stomach fullness, and digestive dysfunction. In addition, when suffering from a cold, cough, diarrhea, or during menstruation, one should stop taking Ejiao and continue only after the illness has healed or the period has ended.