Tonify Spleen and Kidneys with Tangyuan

The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month sees people eating tangyuan. This custom has been preserved to this day because during the Upper Yuan Festival in the evening—people eat tangyuan, hence the name "yuanxiao".

On the Lantern Festival,cakes and pastries are sold on both sides of the road, with every household enjoying a steaming bowl of tangyuan on the fifteenth day.

Tangyuan is not only a traditional delicacy but also has medicinal value for tonifying and health preservation.

The sticky rice is neutral in nature, sweet in taste, and can replenish qi, harmonize the blood,strengthen the spleen, and promote appetite. It is also effective against diarrhea. According to "Shennong's Herbal Classic," sticky rice is a grain that benefits the spleen and lungs. When the spleen and lungs are replenished, one naturally feels warm inside; bowel movements become firmer. Warmth nourishes qi, and abundant qi makes the body feel warm from within. Various conventional fillings for tangyuan mainly consist of fruits and dried fruits such as

sesame,walnuts, and peanuts , along with plant oil, adding more nutritional value to the dish. Accordingly, traditional Chinese medicine considers yuanxiao a food that can replenish qi, harmonize the blood, strengthen the spleen, and promote appetite. Modern nutritionists also highly recommend its health benefits.Tangyuan made from rice wineis a time-honored

snack widely enjoyed in the Yangtze River Basin regions such as Sichuan, Hunan, and Jiangsu-Zhejiang areas.Boil the rice wine with water until it boils. Add small tangyuan and let them float to the surface. After adding a little osmanthus flowersas a garnish, they are ready to eat.The osmanthus-flavored tangyuan is fragrant and refreshing, with a hint of alcohol but not overpowering. You can also add egg in when the water boils for an even richer flavor. Rice wine contains medicinal properties. It warms the stomach, strengthens the spleen, benefits qi, stops diarrhea, and enhances body fluid production and relieves dryness.

According to "Shennong's Herbal Classic," sticky rice is a grain that benefits the spleen and lungs. Rice wine adds not only tonifying properties but also blood-activating effects: it can help those with chronic atrophic gastritis and indigestion by stimulating gastric juice secretion, increasing appetite, and aiding digestion;it can alleviate pain for patients with chronic joint inflammation;and it helps in the auxiliary treatment of conditions such as post-major illness weakness, anemia, or recovery after surgery.

Peel yam 150 grams,steam until cooked, remove the skin, and place it in a large bowl. Add sugar 150 grams and a little pepper powder, mix well with a spoon to form a paste.Stir 250 grams of sticky rice flour into water until combined, knead into soft dough, and wrap around the yam filling to make yuanxiao. They can be fried or boiled.It has kidney-nourishing effects. Makepear

mud 50 grams,add sugar as needed, encase it in glutinous rice flour and form into yuanxiao. Take 10 at a time for breakfast. Regular consumption can help treat insomnia caused by neurasthenia. Soak rice 250 grams for two days, wash thoroughly, grind into a paste, and filter through white cloth to dry as flour.

Roast 60 grams of wheat bran until golden,mince pork into mince, finely chop the onion and ginger, add salt, monosodium glutamate, and an appropriate amount of water. Mix well with the meat filling before wrapping in processed rice flour to make yuanxiao. They can be boiled and eaten.Rice wine can aid digestion but becomes harder to digest when made into pastries like tangyuan due to its finer texture."Shennong's Herbal Classic" notes that sticky rice is adhesive and difficult to digest."Original Source of Chinese Medicine" states that sticky rice, if made into dough, is hard to process; patients should avoid it. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine recommends that elderly people, children, or those recovering from major illnesses eat tangyuan in moderation. Rice wine has some astringent properties. If eating it leads to constipation, drinking

daikon rinsing soup can help alleviate the issue. The texture of glutinous rice balls is too fine for the stomach to digest. The Compendium of Materia Medica noted long ago that glutinous rice is sticky and hard to digest. The Original Treatise on Materia Medica also states that if glutinous rice is made into sticky pancakes, its nature is difficult to transport, so patients should not eat it. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine advises that elderly people, children, and those recovering from serious illness should eat fewer glutinous rice balls. Additionally, glutinous rice has a certain astringent effect; if eating glutinous rice causes constipation, drinking some radish soup can help relieve it.