As I mentioned several days before, according the Solar Calendar the winter is coming. And people here (most old people) will begin to eat some tonics. Here it is one traditional type of tonics to eat in Shanghai. The ingredients are the sesame powder, walnut powder and some sugar powder. People in China believe that the sesame and walnut are very good for body, esp. for the brain cells, hair, and kidney, etc.
But why only in the cold weather people like to eat them?? According to the traditional Chinese medical theories, during the cold weather body is not easy to sweat, and what you eat could be assimilated easily and mostly. People eat this type tonic in their daily life, and aslo some weak people will go to the hospital to take some tonics which are some traditional Chinese medicine. So if you go to see the herbalist doctors now, you have to in queue for a long time.
The big Chinese character you see in the photo is “補”(written in traditional Chinese ,in simple Chinese is 补)(bu3), it means to nourish/to take a tonic. And the Chinese characters for sesame is 芝麻(zhi1 ma0), walnut is 核桃(he2 tao2) /胡桃(hu2 tao2).
Unlike most tonics, this sounds good enough to eat (and simple enough to make). You mentioned old people taking it – do the young ones don’t believe in it, or are they just health enough not to care at this stage?
Love the smile on the salesperson’s face!
If it works as well as a flu shot, then why not? Chinese herbalists and traditional medicine is very popular here in Sydney too, mainly of course amingst Chinese people, but not only. I have some wonderful patches (with camphor and other things) for minor aches and pains I bought at a nearby traditional medicines shop.
I love this shot of your grocery store; the lady is great. Thanks for the information on the tonic. We have a very nice Asian market nearby, I should see if they have this tonic for winter.
Hi Jing, Thanks for stopping by my blog. I see you went shopping yesterday
Lots of color and life in your photos! I imagine that walnut & sesame has a interesting and strong taste!
This was very interesting Jing and thank you for taking the time to explain it all to us. I am sure the West has so much to learn from you.
its such a pity that my PC doesnt show Chinese characters in the text.
Hello Jing,
I did not get through this morning, but I try again.
Thanks for your comments on my site.
Old Chinese traditional medicine is interesting. Somebody told me,
that it take the whole man`s life to become a good Chinese doctor.
I believe that, when I look at acupuncture books for instance
Thanks for your explanation. I hope you will have a really tonic winter.
that’s a very interesting post Jing, my father was using chinese herbal teas for a few years and they did help =)
guess what….I found how to make chinese characters visible..so finally i can seeeeeeeee them:) I am soo happy…especially because you sent me chinese proverb:) thanks
補 in my mind = bitter ! Nevery like tonic since young :p However, this concoction of sesame , walnut, sugar actually sounds yummy! any recipes, Jing?
kris,
haha, i dislike ” 补” too, even dislike take any kind of medicines…bitter, but for some weak people i think it may be very useful. do you remember that chinese proverb “良药苦口利于病”?I should tell Zsolt, maybe he likes this proverb too.
zsolt,
so happy to hear this news. then,.in the future i would try to explain more Chinese characters. oops. big task!!
Jazzy
i think the Chinese herbal medicine sometimes is very useful…but need a little bit long to see the result.
Matthieu
thx for your nice wish, and i hope your cold winter isnt cold…:D
Mimmu
wow…you read the acupuncture book??? thats amazing….i think the acupuncture is very effective.But i dont know anything about it.
Eric.
you are welcome. and i think its an interesting thing to exchang the culture…like Keropok once said: let the west meet the east!!!
Felicia
you are welcome. and if you have chance, i think maybe you will like the taste of this tonic.
Ruth
now i got some this tonic to eat…mom said i need some sesame to nourish my dry hair.
oo…hope you could find it.
Sally
oo…yes, i think that patch is good for the minor aches…
isabella,
I think most young people havent felt the importance of the health, so they don’t care about the tonics or some other healthy ways to keep body good. but. for the old, they already felt the importance…so thats why most old people like to take some tonics in the certain periods.