Chinese Yam Gruel

Sanu-juk

한글 산우죽 · Pinyin Shan Yu Zhou

山芋粥

This leaf and 鹿角粥 before it sit under section 5.3.46 辟果樹上烏鳥法, keeping crows off fruit trees, and have nothing whatever to do with crows or with fruit; they belong to no section of their own. 山芋 is the Bogam's own alternative name for 薯蕷 — the 湯液篇 entry reads 一名山芋一名玉延, 宋時避諱又號爲山藥 — so the drug is registered under 山藥. ≪約半升≫ is a measure gloss, not a cross-reference, so it is printed in parentheses. The source label ≪活心≫ is not in the corpus's list of romanised source labels; it is taken as the 活人心 and romanised Hwalsim.

Composition 構成

Sanyak Shan Yao
山藥 산약 · Chinese Yam

—
Chief 君

山芋, the Bogam's own alternative name for 薯蕷, Chinese yam; the raw root peeled and ground to a mud on a stone or a new tile, two hop of it
Bongmil Feng Mi
蜂蜜 봉밀 · Honey

—
Deputy 臣

two spoonfuls of honey
Uyu Niu Ru
牛乳 우유 · Cow's Milk

—
Deputy 臣

牛乳, cow's milk, one jong — about half a seung
Baekjuk Bai Zhou
白粥 백죽 · Plain Rice Congee

—
Envoy 使

白粥, one bowl of plain white rice gruel, the vehicle

Total g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 4 ingredients measured by count or used as a vehicle, shown as —.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Moistens the lung and boosts the qi
The raw yam is grated to a mud, cooked through with honey and milk, and stirred into a bowl of white gruel

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Dryness of the lung with shortness of qi
Depletion after illness, where food is wanted rather than drugs

Biomedical correlates

Dietary supplement in convalescence — historical
Dry cough — historical indication

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

能潤肺益氣. 山芋生者去皮, 於石上或新瓦上細磨如泥二合, 蜜二匙, 牛乳一鍾(約半升), 於慢火上同炒令極熟, 乃投白粥一椀中攪勻服之. 不極熟則辣喉. 《活心》

Translation

Able to moisten the lung and boost the qi. Take raw Chinese yam, peel it and grind it fine to a mud on a stone or on a new tile, two hop of it; honey two spoonfuls; cow's milk one jong (about half a seung). Cook them together over a slow fire until they are thoroughly done, then put it into a bowl of white gruel, stir it even and eat it. If it is not thoroughly done it scorches the throat. — Hwalsim 活心 (Donguibogam · Japbang)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Yam, honey, milk and rice gruel, cooked slowly until done. It is food, and it is the kind of food given to someone who has been ill and cannot manage much — soft, sweet, bland and energy-dense. 潤肺益氣, moistening the lung and boosting the qi, is the standard reading of 薯蕷 in the materia medica and of a milk-and-honey gruel in the dietary literature, and nothing more is being claimed. The one piece of real observation is the last clause: 不極熟則辣喉, if it is not thoroughly cooked it scorches the throat. Raw yam does irritate the mouth and throat — the mucilage carries needle-shaped calcium oxalate crystals and the sap raises an itch on the hands of anyone who peels it — and cooking it through is exactly the remedy. That is a cook's note and it is correct. Nothing here needs a warning. It is a gruel. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.