1) Gingko nut which is also known as gingko seed. Astringing the lung-qi and relieving phlegm-dyspnea, it is applicable to patients suffering from bronchial asthma with profuse phlegm. To be taken cooked, parched, or used as an ingredient of a decoction, 3 to 9g or 5-10 gingko nuts a day. It is poisonous, so overdose should be avoided, to say nothing of eating it raw, so as not to be poisoned. Boiled 9g of parched gingko nuts (shelled, stir-fired) and its decoction, when taken together and with a right amount of honey mixed in, can serve as a supplementary treatment for bronchial asthma or cough due to tuberculosis.
2) Gruel of Ephedra and Dried Ginger
Ingredients: Ephedra 6g, dried ginger 6g, liquorice 3g, polished round-grained rice 100g and Chinese green onion 3g.
Process: Decoct the first three ingredients and strain the dregs out form the decoction; then put the rice into the decoction with a right amount of water and make gruel. Finally when the gruel is done, scatter the cut-up Chinese green onion into it. To be taken twice a day. It can be used as an auxiliary treatment for asthma of cold type.
3) Soft Extract of Sichuan Fritillary Bulb and Pear with Additions
Ingredients: Sichuan fritillary bulb 30g, bitter apricot kernel 20g, root of purple-flowered peucedanum 15g, gypsum 30g, licorice root 10g, red tangerine peel 30g, snow pear 6, waxgourd 100g, crystal sugar 150g, right amount of alum.
Process: First decoct in water the bitter apricot kernel, root of purple-flowered peucedanum, gypsum and raw licorice root and sift out 500ml of the decoction; cut the waxgourd strips into bits as small as soybeans, break the Sichuan fritillary bulb into pieces and grind the red tangerine peel into powder; peel and pound the pears and mix them with the alum solution. Then put into the solution the waxgourd bits, the crumbs of the crystal sugar, the broken Sichuan fritillary bulb, the red tangerine peel powder. And then pour the decoction into them in a big bowl and mix them well. Finally put the bowl of the mixture in a food steamer and steam it with the bowl in the boiling water for about 50 minutes until it becomes sticky and thick extract. To be taken in several days, in the amount which one thinks fit per day. It is suitable for asthma of heat type.
4) Baby Pigeon Steamed with Ginseng, Astragalus Root and Cordyceps
Ingredients: Radix Ginseng (Renshen) 3g (or Dangshen 15g), Radix Astragali (Huangqi) root 15g, Poria (Fuling) 15g, white Rhizoma Atractylodis (Cangzhu) 9g, dried tangerine peel 6g, Cordyceps (Dongchongxiacao) 6g, baby pigeon that has not moulted yet (get rid of its feathers and entrails) 1.
Process: Place all the ingredients in a big bowl with a right amount of water; then steam them by putting the big bowl in boiling water in food steamer and, when the pigeon is well done, season them with table salt and gourmet powder. The pigeon is for eating and the soup for drinking. It is applicable for bronchial asthma at remission stage marked by deficiency of the lung, spleen and kidney.
