It turns out my favorite tea, Pu-Ehr tea, is not only an enigma, it’s fermented! Who knew?? I learned this tea is not green and not black, it’s specially prepared and fermented to produce unique compounds that helps to burn fat! Wikipedia has good information on it, but here’s a pretty good summary:
Good Pu-Ehr Tea Article.
Pu-Ehr tea often comes in tightly packed ovals or balls that is often hard to break apart. It has an earthy favor that is absolutely delicious.
This special tea is believed to improve digestion and to clear toxins from the body, especially when the toxins come from too much drink.
Try it the morning after imbibing a few guiness stout with raw egg!
Probiotics — For Life!
No tonic blog would be complete without a mention of probiotics. Almost every culture has a fermented food product that is considered a staple. These fermented foods mean bacteria in the gut that are producing vitamins and protecting us from bad bacteria. These “good” bacteria in our gut also provide protection against viruses. Korea has kimchee, japan has natto and miso, china has a variety of fermented bean and soy products. Europe and middle east have yogurt, kefir and sauerkraut. If you look closely at any culture, it will have a ‘culture’ that confers health benefits.
Probiotics are becoming trendy and there is a lot of hype. I’m not sure exactly why we need to take supplements that survive the stomach acid if people have been eating foods for years without this problem. Nevertheless, the proponents of supplements say that you should look for a guarantee of potency through the expiration date and not the time of manufacture. You also want to get as many cultures as possible. Look for a good balance of names with “L” for the small intestines and “B” for the large intestines. You need to get both for optimum results.
An interesting side effect? Extremely vivid and intense dreams. Many have reported this side effect. I think that since we have ‘brains in our guts’ this side effect is interesting and should be studied.
Sea Cucumbers!!
My latest food adventure is preparing a dried sea cucumber I bought in a Chinese Herb shop. Sea Cucumbers are very expensive, slightly disgusting looking, very tasty and sought after for their reputed tonic effects. They are often eaten at Chinese weddings and other special occasions in the East as a delicacy.
Sea Cucumbers can be bought already cleaned and soaked but the most common way to find them is dried. They resemble rocks or what you would imagine a petrified cucumber to look like. This picture is a dried one next to one that has soaked for one day:
Preparing them is a time consuming process. I haven’t been able to google a good procedure for preparing them. I’ve been told to boil them with ginger daily and let them soak all day, changing the water once or twice daily. After it softens a bit, slice them open to remove the innards. The sea cucumber must be scrubbed and rinsed daily.
This is another shot of the sea cucumber getting ready to be boiled with slices of ginger:
I know it looks disgusting, but after several days of soaking, boiling, and cleaning, this gelatinous and phallic culinary item will taste delicious.
I plan to saute it with some mushrooms and oyster sauce!
Natto notes
What’s Natto? Many of you have probably heard of nattokinase, an enzyme that reportedly clears blockages from our arteries. This enzyme is found naturally in fermented soybeans, a popular breakfast food in Japan. It smells and looks, well, disgusting:
It’s an acquired taste, I’m actually learning to like it.
Natto is a great source of vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 can reverse calcification of our arteries. It reportedly takes calcium out of your arteries and puts them in your bones. It can make your arteries young again!
You can find this stuff in the freezer section of most asian supermarkets. It usually comes in packs of 2 or 3 in little styrofoam boxes. Some come with packets of mustard or soy sauce. Skip the sauces and try it mixed with rice. Not a bad way to start your day.
Chinatown Herbal Shops…buyer beware!
Recently I posted about a great Chinese Tonic Patent Medicine I found called Gejie Bushing Wan.
However, you have to be aware of a big problem if you’re not careful in Chinatown. I’m finding more and more instances of knock offs and counterfeits. If you don’t check your ingredients, you’ll learn the hard way. For example, the Gejie Bushing Wan I mentioned above was about 6 bucks and had a plethora of tonic herb ingredients. I found a two dollar version that looked exactly the same, why would I think the ingredients were different? Of course, the cheaper version was missing all the active herbal ingredients.
Be careful with Shou Wu Chih too. I get a lot of hits for Shou Wu Chih on this site, so there’s alot of interest on it. However, read the ingredients!! There’s a knock off version out there that doesn’t have the full ingredients.
Someone joked that “made in China” is becoming the ultimate warning label. I hope this will not become a truth, however, I’m going to have to stop recommending Chinese herbs if problems continue with counterfeits, fakes, contamination and other problems stemming from greed and carelessness. What makes this tragic is that people turn to Chinese tonic herbs to improve their health and well being.
Nitric Oxide From Vegetables
Looking to boost your nitric oxide levels? Then eat your vegetables, especially root and green leafy vegetables. We always knew eating vegetables was good for you, but now studies are showing why. Roots and Green Leaves are high in nitrates. These dietary nitrates will increase your nitric oxide levels. If you suffer from stomach ulcers, heart disease, baldness, erectile dysfunction, high blood pressure, certain immune disorders, slow healing or are interested in boosting your athletic performance, then you want to pay close attention! Beet Juice is one of the easiest ways to boost your nitrate intake–and it tastes great.
I googled around found this juice online. You can read about it on this blog:
Biotta Juice Blog.
Try making your own juice with beets, carrots and spinach.
Here’s an article on how it increases athletic performance:
Athletic Performance Boost from Vegetables.
Now it makes sense to eat and drink your veggies everyday!
Pumpkin Seed Powder — What?
I found an interesting tonic in a local supermarket. It was a bag of pumpkin seed powder. Since it was only about $1.20, I decided to throw it in the basket and try it out. To my surprise, it tasted delicious. It’s a taste that’s hard to describe, obviously nutty like peanut butter, but oddly foreign. It’s dark green in color too. Weird but good.
I always knew pumpkin seeds had the reputation for boosting testosterone and libido (commonly thought to be because of it’s high zinc content) but I was surprised to find that there is much research regarding pumpkin seeds and urinary incontinence and for a healthy prostrate. The bladder control is due to pumpkin seed being able to boost nitric oxide levels. Read this:
rabbits and pumpkin seeds.
Try this stuff out and let me know what you think!
Beef Tendon Recipe..it’s slow good!
Decided you want to try eating beef tendon regularly?
Don’t have access to an authentic chinese restaurant?
Can’t figure out how to make it?
I stumbled on a way to make it better than I’ve tasted in any Chinese restaurant in NYC. All you need is a slow cooker, a can of chicken broth (no msg), seasoning and time.
I use Swanson Chicken broth because it has no MSG and no added fat:
Open the can and put it in the slow cooker. Add 2 large beef tendons.
Season with powdered garlic,onion, etc. I used Oscar’s Oxtail Seasoning:
If you want to step it up a notch, add polygonum multiflorum, the main ingredient in Shou Wu Chih and some Goji Berry.
A word of caution..I went overboard with the chinese herbs. I tried some eucommia bark, and some other tonics and it ended up tasting pretty bad. My advice is to limit the tonic herbs to mild tasting ones like Shou Wu, which is actually tasty. Don’t ruin your beef tendon!
Let the slow cooker do it’s stuff for 8 hours or more. You’ll have the most tender, wonderful tasting beef tendon that rivals the best chinese restaurant.
Stout and Eggs
Here’s a cool one for you..try Guinness Stout with a raw egg. I first heard of this in the Caribbean where it is reportedly a natural viagra. It’s popular especially in Jamaica. However, a quick google search will show you that many cultures around the world drink Guinness with a raw egg in it. I have some ideas concerning why there would be such virility enhancing effects of this drink. 
First, the real stuff is infused with Nitrogen to create the distinct head. When I hear nitrogen, I automatically think there must be some kind of nitric oxide related connection. Then of course is the alcohol content that helps boost circulation. Anything that boosts circulation is usually linked to enhancing nitric oxide. Last, the raw egg is full of choline and lecithin. Legend has it that Casanova frequently dined on raw eggs and oysters to enhance his prowess.
Try it out..it’s good stuff.
Offal is not awful
Most people consider offal to be pretty disgusting. Offal is considered to be anything other than the muscle and bones of a butchered animal. There are many cultures that eat this stuff on a regular basis or consider them delicacies. For example, tripe (intestine) makes a delicious anti-hangover remedy in Mexico called ‘Menudo’. Pork Skin is a skin beautifier in Vietnam. Tendon is eaten in china to build strength and as an arthritis remedy. Browse any asian supermarket and you’ll find an assortment of hearts, livers, kidneys and even uterus for your fine dining pleasure! I think in modern society, we miss out on these essential foods. It’s not natural to only eat fine cuts of meat — muscle. The human race was built on eating every part of the animal. As I think of it, frankfurters and sausages are probably a pretty good way to get these things in your diet. So is head cheese.
For anti-aging, I feel it’s important to get collagen in your diet. You can’t get collagen by only eating fine cuts of beef. You need to eat tendon, oxtail, pork skin. You can find some great recipes online or visit an authentic asian restaurant and try something new. One thing you can try is the famous vietnamese soup called ‘Pho’ or beef noodle soup. They often throw in tendon and some tripe. It’s considered very healthy and a strength builder in asia. Try it!
