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Mume Gruel

乌梅粥 〔烏梅粥〕 wū méi zhōu

Source: Shèng Jì Zǒng Lù 圣济总录

Ingredients

Actions: Engenders liquid and allays thirst; constrains the lung and relieves cough; astringes the intestines and checks diarrhea; quiets roundworm.

Indications: Enduring cough, enduring diarrhea, enduring dysentery; bloody stool, bloody urine; vexation and thirst from vacuity heat; thirst in summer.

Method: Blend a strained decoction of the mum with the ready made gruel, add sugar to taste, and cook for a short while before serving.

Rationale: Chinese medical theory posits that sweet and sour things supplement yīn. Wū méi plums are both sweet and sour and are known to allay thirst. The story of CáoCáo being quenched of his thirst by looking at Wū méi is well-known among the Chinese. Modern science explains this as a conditioned response based on the knowledge this fruit's thirst-allaying action. Wū méi plums are now known to contain malic, citric, and succinic acid, which stimulate the secretion of saliva. Chinese medical theory also posits that sourness contracts and constrains, secures and astringes. Wū méi constrains the lung and relieves cough, and is used to treat enduring cough with scant thin phlegm. It also astringing the intestines and checks diarrhea, and is used for spleen vacuity diarrhea, or enduring dysentery. By the same astringent action it also treats bloody stool.

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