{"title":"Li Shui 利水 — sclerotia, seeds and bland herbs","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe tradition describes the Liquids (津液 Jin Ye) as a water that must stay in movement. The “Li Shui” (利水) family gathers matter often sweet and bland — sclerotia, seeds and herbs — which the classical reading associates with water finding its way downwards again.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"plantain-deau-ze-xie","title":"Water plantain - 泽泻 (Ze Xie)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe fleshy rhizome of \u003cem\u003eAlisma orientale\u003c\/em\u003e, an aquatic plant of the marshes and paddy fields of Asia, whose lance-head leaves emerge above the water. It is lifted at the end of autumn or in winter, stripped of its outer bark, dried, then cut into rounds. These are a matt yellowish white, floury at the break, sown with small darker points; the smell is discreet, the taste sweet at first, then slightly bitter. Its name, 泽泻, translates word for word as “the marsh that flows away”, in reference to the waterlogged ground where the plant grows. In broth or as a long infusion: a few rounds in just-simmering water, fifteen to twenty minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yi Shang Tang","offers":[{"title":"100 g","offer_id":53827590914387,"sku":"BQ-ZE-XIE-100G","price":6.8,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1067\/3343\/7267\/files\/plantain-deau-ze-xie-4253101.jpg?v=1785714383"},{"product_id":"grand-plantain-parties-aeriennes-che-qian-cao","title":"Greater plantain (aerial parts) - 车前草 (Che Qian Cao)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe aerial parts of \u003cem\u003ePlantago asiatica\u003c\/em\u003e, sometimes \u003cem\u003ePlantago depressa\u003c\/em\u003e, that common plantain of the roadside. Its name, 车前草, translates word for word as “the grass in front of the cart”: the plant thrives in ruts, where the seeds fall and germinate. It is cut in summer, during flowering, and dried whole, in bundles. Dry, it keeps its oval leaves with strongly marked parallel veins, of a greyish green turning khaki, and its long, fine brown flower spikes; the smell is herbaceous and frank, the taste vegetal, a little bitter. A pinch goes into just-simmering water, five to ten minutes, on its own or with other herbs; the young leaves are also eaten, briefly blanched, as a leaf vegetable.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yi Shang Tang","offers":[{"title":"100 g","offer_id":53827590979923,"sku":"BQ-CHE-QIAN-CAO-100G","price":6.8,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1067\/3343\/7267\/files\/che-qian-cao-dessus-1.jpg?v=1784503408"},{"product_id":"graines-de-plantain-che-qian-zi","title":"Plantain seeds - 车前子 (Che Qian Zi)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe seeds of \u003cem\u003ePlantago asiatica\u003c\/em\u003e, sometimes \u003cem\u003ePlantago depressa\u003c\/em\u003e, separated from the spike by threshing in autumn, once the capsules are dry. Not to be confused with Che Qian Cao, which denotes the aerial parts of the same plant: here only the seeds are kept. Minute — barely a millimetre — brownish-black, glossy and angular, they have almost no smell and a very discreet, faintly cereal taste. On contact with water they swell and surround themselves with a slippery mucilage that clouds the liquid and thickens it slightly. Their fineness makes straining awkward: Chinese usage encloses them in a cloth bag (Bao Jian) which is dipped for some twenty minutes in just-simmering water before being lifted out.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yi Shang Tang","offers":[{"title":"100 g","offer_id":53827591012691,"sku":"BQ-CHE-QIAN-ZI-100G","price":7.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1067\/3343\/7267\/files\/che-qian-zi-dessus-2.jpg?v=1784503410"},{"product_id":"lysimaque-chinoise-jin-qian-cao","title":"Chinese loosestrife - 金钱草 (Jin Qian Cao)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe aerial parts of \u003cem\u003eLysimachia christinae\u003c\/em\u003e, a creeping plant of the damp zones of southern China. Its name, 金钱草, translates as “the gold-coin herb”, on account of its round, regular leaves, set in pairs along the stem like coins in a row. It is cut in summer, at flowering time, and dried in the shade. Dry, it comes as fine, supple reddish-brown stems bearing greyish-green heart-shaped leaves, thin as paper, and sometimes a few small yellow star-shaped flowers. The smell is faint and herbaceous, the taste discreet, barely bitter. As an infusion, a pinch to a cup of just-simmering water, ten minutes; more if it goes into a broth.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yi Shang Tang","offers":[{"title":"100 g","offer_id":53827591045459,"sku":"BQ-JIN-QIAN-CAO-100G","price":7.8,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1067\/3343\/7267\/files\/jin-qian-cao-dessus-1.jpg?v=1784503438"},{"product_id":"haricot-azuki-rouge-chi-xiao-dou","title":"Red azuki bean - 赤小豆 (Chi Xiao Dou)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe seeds of \u003cem\u003eVigna umbellata\u003c\/em\u003e, small red beans longer and narrower than the round adzuki of \u003cem\u003eVigna angularis\u003c\/em\u003e (Chi Dou), for which they are commonly substituted in cookery without anyone taking exception. The plant has been grown in Asia for thousands of years. The pods are harvested at maturity, when they turn brown, then threshed, and the seeds dried. These are an even dark red, glossy, marked with a white hilum in a fine line along the flank; on cooking they hold their shape better than the round adzuki and give off a red-brown water. The taste is sweet, floury, a little earthy. Allow an hour at a gentle simmer for congees and soups, longer still when they are crushed and sweetened for the red paste of Cantonese desserts and of Japanese anko.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yi Shang Tang","offers":[{"title":"200 g","offer_id":53827591078227,"sku":"BQ-CHI-XIAO-DOU-200G","price":6.8,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1067\/3343\/7267\/files\/chi-xiao-dou-dessus-1.jpg?v=1784503408"},{"product_id":"soie-de-mais-yu-mi-xu","title":"Corn silk - 玉米须 (Yu Mi Xu)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe thread-like stigmas — the “silk” — of maize (\u003cem\u003eZea mays\u003c\/em\u003e), taken from ripe ears before the grains are stripped off. Dried in the shade so as not to break the filaments, they form silky tufts, golden yellow to reddish brown according to the degree of ripening, very light and a little tangled. The infusion from them is clear and golden, of a mild, vegetal taste, with the discreet sugar of the ear. A drink of country cookery, in Asia as elsewhere: a handful of filaments in a litre of water at 95 °C, ten minutes, then left to cool — it is drunk cold in summer, plain or with a little rock sugar.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yi Shang Tang","offers":[{"title":"50 g","offer_id":53827601269075,"sku":"BQ-YU-MI-XU-50G","price":4.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1067\/3343\/7267\/files\/yu-mi-xu-cote-1.jpg?v=1784503532"}],"url":"https:\/\/botaqi.shop\/en\/collections\/li-shui.oembed","provider":"BotaQi","version":"1.0","type":"link"}