Wild fruit treats snake bites, eating it numbs the mouth; the old farmer thought it was poisonous, now it sells for 15 yuan per jin

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In the rural mountains, there are all kinds of wild grasses and wild fruits, and many of them are very useful. For example, some grasses can be eaten as wild vegetables, some wild grasses can be used as herbal medicine to treat illnesses, and some wild fruits are delicious, and so on. There are really too many useful ones, and even the old farmer friends in the countryside may not necessarily know them all.

In the past, living conditions in the countryside were not as good as they are now. When farmer friends got sick, they would go to the wild or the mountains to dig up some wild grasses to treat illnesses. Even when they went to some old traditional Chinese medicine doctors in the village, most of the time they still used herbal medicine to treat illnesses.

I remember when I was little, about more than 20 years ago, when I still lived in the rural mountains. When I got sick, I often went with my mother to the mountains to dig up some wild grasses to use, or when there was nothing to eat, we would go to the mountains to dig up some wild mushrooms, wild vegetables and other wild foods. When in the mountains, in July and August, I often saw a kind of wild fruit. It looked a lot like the "chocolate beans" that were very popular in the city in the 1990s. As a greedy child, when the adults were not paying attention, I secretly ate one, and found that it was not as tasty as "chocolate beans." Instead, it was very bitter, and after eating it, my mouth went numb.

Later, when the adults saw me, I almost got a severe beating. They said this thing could not be eaten and was poisonous. Only after the adults explained it did I learn that this wild fruit was called "Huang Yaozi," and in many rural areas it was regarded as a top-grade medicinal material.

Back then, the countryside was not as good as it is now. The wild areas were basically overgrown with weeds. Especially after summer arrived, there were particularly many venomous snakes and insects in the wild grass in the countryside. If you got bitten accidentally, it was very painful, and if you encountered a venomous snake, it could even be life-threatening. But at that time, there were not such good medical conditions as now, so many farmer friends would grind up Huang Yaozi and apply it to the wound to treat snake bites.

Later, when I grew up, I learned that the wild fruit Huang Yaozi is indeed poisonous, but only mildly so. If accidentally eaten, it can cause poisoning reactions such as burning pain, numbness, salivation, nausea, and vomiting in the mouth, tongue, and throat. Although it is mildly poisonous, it is indeed a top-grade traditional Chinese medicinal material. According to the "Chinese Materia Medica," Huang Yaozi can be used as medicine. It is bitter in taste, cold in nature, and mildly poisonous. As medicine, it has the effects of dispersing nodules and reducing goiter, clearing heat and detoxifying, and cooling blood and stopping bleeding. It can be used to treat many symptoms such as sore throat, carbuncles and sores, snake and insect bites, goiter, vomiting blood, coughing blood, and whooping cough.

It is also because of these effects of Huang Yaozi that farmer friends often used it specifically to treat snake bites in the past. A few days ago, I saw an old farmer friend in the village selling Huang Yaozi. According to the old farmer friend, this thing was not worth much before, but now wild Huang Yaozi is becoming fewer and fewer, which has also caused its price to rise year after year. Now it is worth 15 yuan per jin, so it can be considered a rare item.

Friends, have you seen this "Huang Yaozi" when you were children? You are welcome to leave a message and share!

Author's note: Because Huang Yaozi is mildly poisonous, please do not eat this wild fruit by mistake. What should you do if you accidentally eat Huang Yaozi? I know 2 methods here.

Gastric lavage, catharsis, and oral administration of egg white or kudzu powder paste and activated carbon.

Drink sugar water or receive intravenous drip of glucose saline; some also take mung bean soup orally.

Text/Hemu Report, images/Internet

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