Soaking the dry medicine in water inside a clay pot for 10 or 15 minutes before cooking is an essential must. It helps release the chemicals more thoroughly and enhances the therapeutic effects. These are different methods of cooking medicine:
Cook Herbs First
Medicine of shells or mineral nature should be broken into pieces because it's too hard for the chemicals to dissolve. Boil the mixture for approximately 15-20 minutes and then add other medicine for cooking. Examples of which are Shi Jue Ming, Long Chi, Long Gu and Ci Shi.
Add Herbs Last
Medicine of a volatile nature should only be added to the medicine in the last 5 minutes of the brewing. The volatile oil components would be lost if it is cooked for too long and hence, the therapeutic effect will be reduced. Examples will include mint leaves, Chinese cinnamon, Pan Xie leaf and Mu Xiang.
Wrapping the Herbs with Cloth
Some herbs should be cooked while wrapped with a muslin cloth. Failure to do so may result in the stimulation and inflammation of the throat. For example, Pu Huang and Hai Jin Sha float in the water, coagulates into a paste. In wrapping the herbs, it will prevent such a mess and makes the cooking a lot easier.
Cooking Separately
For certain herbs like ginseng, it should be cooked separately from the rest of the herbs. The soup from herbal brew (ie ginseng) is then added to the other herbs before serving. This is to prevent the nutrients from ginseng from being absorbed by other herbs.
Dissolve
Herbs of gelatinous nature such as E Jiao should just be melted in hot medicine without cooking. Such herbs, upon prolonged periods of cooking, sticks to a pot and gets burnt easily. This only means that a substantial portion of the herb is wasted and the overall therapeutic effect of that dose is reduced.
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