VARIANT NAMES: Yancai, Yangen, Yanshucai.
ORIGIN: The nest built with saliva or saliva mixed with villus by Collocalia esculenta [Apodidae] and many other swallows of the same breed.
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION: Containing substances composed of nitrogen, 57.4%in all, such as amide nitrogen, arginine nitrogen, cystive nitrogen, histidine nitrogen, non-amino nitrogen, etc. It also contains a little fat, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, kalium, hexosamine, and mucinoid material.
NATURE, FLAVOR AND CHANNEL TROPISM: Sweet in flavor and neutral in nature, acting on the channels of the lung, spleen and kidney.
EFFICIENCIES AND INDICATIONS: Nourishing yin to moisten dryness, tonifying qi and reinforcing the function of the spleen and stomach. It is used to treat consumptive diseases, Tuberculosis, cough and phlegm-dyspnea, hemoptysis due to Bronchiectasis, hematemesis, protracted dysentery, chronic malaria, dysphagia and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
DIRECTIONS: To be boiled by putting the container in boiling water, or used to cook dishes or make medicated diet. It is to be soaked in warm water, cleaned of the feathers, blood and impure material before cooking.