Just a Simple Flower

July 27, 2013 - by enrica - in Diet Therapy

Ju Hua, pronounced “joo hwa”, is the Chrysanthemum flower. I love having this as a tea – its flowery flavour has a distinct and soothing taste. In a tea, it is often made with the dried flowers but it is also available as a powdered granule combined with cane sugar – highly delicious but they are made with just a little too much sugar!

In Chinese Medicine, Ju Hua is a herb that “releases the exterior”, which essentially means getting rid of viruses and bacteria that cause colds, flu and other common respiratory infections, but in particular, Ju Hua targets conditions with sore throats, fevers and/or headache. As a child, if I started to get a sore throat, my mother would boil some up (of course with a little bit of sugar to help the medicine go down), and my sore throat would be very mild and I’d be back to playing in the street in no time.

This delightful flower also “calms the Liver” and brightens the eyes, which can roughly translate to de-stressing you and reducing headaches, and if you have red eyes, blurry vision or general eye problems, it’s definitely good for you.

So imagine that you are sitting in the office, typing on the computer in front of you, as you have been doing for the past three hours, and your email inbox is refusing to be emptied and your boss has been hounding you all day for that report, a chrysanthemum tea is your solution to a healthier and happier office you. To top it off, if you combine it with goji berries (Gou Qi Zi), you will further benefit your eyes and maybe even bring a sparkle to them as well as adding a lovely sweetness to your tea.