Don't Be Intimidated by Chinese Herbs

Understanding Chinese herbs for everyday cooking versus clinical TCM

Walk into an Asian grocery store and you may find dried jujubes, goji berries, astragalus, Chinese yam, lotus seeds, poria, dried longan and packages of roots and herbs specifically assembled for making soup.

Walk into a Chinese apothecary and you may encounter some of those very same ingredients.

That's where things can become confusing for people who didn't grow up around Chinese herbal food culture.

If an ingredient is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, does that automatically make anything containing it medicine?

No.

In fact, the English label “Chinese medicine” can sometimes contribute to the confusion. Chinese herbal traditions certainly include clinical medicine, but herbs are also deeply intertwined with food, family care, seasonal eating, postpartum traditions and everyday cultural practices.

For many Asian families, putting herbs into soup isn't necessarily viewed as “taking medicine.” It's simply part of how people cook and care for one another.

That doesn't make every Chinese herb an everyday food, and it doesn't mean every traditional formula is appropriate for everyone. But it also doesn't mean you need a TCM diagnosis every time you put Chinese herbs into soup.

The easiest way to understand the difference is context and purpose.

Culinary Use vs. Clinical TCM

When people use the term “food-grade” Chinese herbs, they are generally distinguishing herbs sold or intended for culinary preparations at home from herbs being selected and used therapeutically by a practitioner.

Clinical TCM is different because it isn't simply about matching an herb to a symptom or health condition. TCM traditionally treats the individual according to their constitution and pattern. Two people experiencing similar symptoms may therefore receive very different recommendations.

Herbs are also only one part of TCM. Depending on the practitioner and the individual, treatment may incorporate Chinese herbal formulas, acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping, dietary therapy or other traditional modalities, sometimes in combination.

CHART 1: CULINARY CHINESE HERBS VS. CLINICAL TCM

The difference isn't simply which herb is being used. Clinical TCM evaluates the individual and may combine herbs with other therapeutic modalities based on that person's constitution and pattern.

When Does a TCM Practitioner Become Important?

Cooking a traditional Chinese herbal soup for nourishment is very different from trying to treat a significant or persistent health problem yourself.

When you're dealing with ongoing symptoms, a significant health challenge or a situation where individualized care matters, a qualified TCM practitioner can assess you, not simply the name of your condition.

Within TCM theory, your constitution, symptoms and overall pattern help determine the approach. Two people can walk into a clinic complaining of what sounds like the same problem and leave with different herbal formulas or different combinations of acupuncture, moxibustion, dietary recommendations and other modalities.

That's clinical TCM.

It shouldn't be confused with the fact that many Chinese herbs also have a long history of being purchased, taken home and cooked as food.

CHART 2: WHEN ARE YOU COOKING, AND WHEN ARE YOU USING HERBS THERAPEUTICALLY?

There isn't always a perfect dividing line. That's exactly why context, purpose, concentration and frequency matter.

Ba Zhen Tang Is a Good Example

Ba Zhen Tang (aka Eight Treasures Soup we offer on our shop) is a classical Chinese herbal formula with specific traditional uses. In clinical TCM, a practitioner can determine whether it is appropriate for someone's constitution and pattern and may modify the formula accordingly.

But Ba Zhen doesn't exist only inside a clinic.

It has also entered household food culture. Packaged Ba Zhen soup ingredients are sold for home cooking and may be simmered with chicken, pork or other foods. Families can buy the herbs, bring them home and make soup just as generations have done with many other Chinese herbal preparations.

Those two uses don't cancel each other out.

CHART 3: BA ZHEN TANG IN TWO DIFFERENT SETTINGS

Same historical formula. Different context and purpose.

Think About Western Herbs You Already Know

This distinction becomes much less foreign when we remove the Chinese names.

Nobody is particularly alarmed when rosemary and thyme go into chicken soup.

Dandelion can be eaten as a vegetable or steeped into tea. Ginger can flavor dinner, simmer in broth or be brewed into tea. Turmeric can go into curry or a beverage. Fennel can be eaten as a vegetable while its seeds are used as a spice or infusion.

Many of these plants also have long histories in Western herbalism.

Their medicinal histories don't prevent them from being food.

CHART 4: ONE PLANT CAN HAVE MORE THAN ONE ROLE

The unfamiliarity of a Chinese ingredient doesn't automatically make it more “medicinal” than a familiar Western botanical.

An herb doesn't become prescription medicine simply because humans have also used it medicinally.

Europe Had an Apothecary and Kitchen Tradition Too

And this overlap isn't uniquely Chinese.

Medieval and early-modern Europeans also used plants as foods, seasonings, infusions, decoctions, broths and medicines. Apothecaries dispensed botanicals while households grew and cooked many plants that were valued for both culinary and therapeutic purposes.

Food itself was intertwined with European medical thinking. Medieval medicine was heavily influenced by humoral theory, and diet was one of the ways people attempted to maintain or restore balance in the body.

European cooks were also putting herbs into pots hundreds of years ago.

The late-14th-century English cookbook The Forme of Cury contains dishes and broths using herbs and spices such as sage, parsley, mint, fennel, rosemary, ginger and saffron.

European cooking also gives us something immediately recognizable today: the bouquet garni and sachet d'épices.

Herbs are bundled or placed into a small bag, simmered in stock, soup or sauce to extract their flavor and aromatic compounds, and then removed.

Sound familiar?

The plants are different. The theories behind their historical medicinal use are different. But the idea of putting botanicals into liquid, simmering them and consuming the resulting broth isn't particularly exotic.

CHART 5: DIFFERENT CULTURES, FAMILIAR PRACTICES

Different cultures and different medical systems, but neither historically maintained an absolute wall between plants, food and health.

So What Does “Food-Grade” Really Mean?

This is an important distinction because “food-grade” shouldn't be interpreted as meaning an inferior version of medicinal herbs or as a universal classification for every Chinese botanical.

In everyday conversation, we're using it to distinguish ingredients sourced and sold for culinary consumption from herbs being dispensed specifically for clinical treatment.

Quality still matters enormously.

Where an herb was grown, how it was harvested, how long it has been stored, processing methods, contamination and adulteration can all affect what ultimately ends up in your pot.

The goal isn't simply to find Chinese herbs.

It's to find high-quality herbs appropriate for the way you intend to use them.

Don't Be Intimidated by Chinese Herbs

Chinese herbs deserve the same curiosity we give unfamiliar vegetables, spices and other ingredients.

Learn what the herb is. Learn whether it has a history of culinary use. Learn how people traditionally prepare it. Buy herbs intended for the type of preparation you're making and pay attention to sourcing and quality.

And understand where the context changes.

Making a traditional herbal soup for nourishment is one thing. Trying to address a significant health challenge with therapeutic doses of Chinese herbs is another.

That's where the knowledge of a qualified TCM practitioner becomes valuable. Clinical TCM treats the individual according to their constitution and pattern and may use herbs alongside acupuncture, moxibustion, dietary therapy and other modalities.

Chinese herbs don't have to be mysterious simply because Western food culture isn't familiar with them.

Sometimes an herb is being used therapeutically. And sometimes Grandma just put it in the soup.