By Eric Brand

During a recent research session, I found a link to an incredible article by Prof. Zhao Zhongzhen et al. on medicinal processing.  This article, published in December 2010 in Thieme's prestigious journal Planta Medica, is a must-read for all serious Chinese herbalists.  It is available for free as a full-text article, which is a rarity for journal articles of this caliber.

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Pao zhi (medicinal processing) is a very unique feature of Chinese herbal medicine.  Herbal products have been used throughout history by many cultures, but only in Chinese medicine do we find such advanced and distinctive processing methods and associated literature.  This paper presents an expert overview of the common types of medicinal processing and it explores the evolution of these methods over history.  In addition to the deep overview, medicinals with complex processing situations such as Fu Zi and He Shou Wu are discussed in detail.

Herbal processing is a complex topic because the methods used have developed gradually over the course of centuries, and there are often differences in the processing methods used in the present day from the processing methods used in ancient times.  Additionally, different regions and nations often process medicinals with different techniques.  This inspirational article touches on these issues and many others, and concludes with an assessment of the current situation and progress in medicinal processing research.  Seriously, this is a must read document for all herbalists, it is one of the finest articles I’ve ever read.