Herbs for the Liver (钩藤）

Gou teng is an ivy-like plant, where hooks have been used for hypertension, infantile convulsion, and so on in oriental traditional medicine. The curved thorns on the stems are antispasmodic, carminative, febrifuge and hepatic.

Gou Teng Congee(钩藤粥）

Ingredients:
19g of Gou Teng
38g of long grain rice
5 cups of water

Instructions:
1. Boil 1 cup of water. Add Gou Teng and boil for 2 minutes. Strain the liquid.
2. Cook long grain rice with 4 cups of water to make congee. Add the strained liquid from step 1. Season with salt, sugar and serve.

Benefits:
It is used in the treatment of infantile convulsions, dizziness, headaches, hypertension and apoplexy. The should not be overcooked. Medical functions include: sedative effect: lower the excitement of CNS helps treatment of epilepsy; lowering blood pressure effect (but does not cause peripheral vasodilation) but old stems without thorns do not possess the anti-hypertension effect; anti platelet coagulation.