Guidelines for The Use of Herbal Medicines in Family Health Care

GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF HERBAL MEDICINES IN FAMILY HEALTH CARE

2 GENERAL GUIDANCE

This chapter describes the general and technical guide that should be followed for the
preparation and use of herbal medicines in recipes.

1. Ingredients

Ensuring to use of the correct herbal medicine is the important entry to further steps of
preparation and its use. Incorrect herbal medicine being selected could have undesirable
effects or cause poisoning. The selected ingredients should be the best quality, fresh and
clean thoroughly before using it.

Selection of the ingredients such as leaves, flowers, fruits, roots (rhizome), bulb, bark, stem,
and whole herbal materials should consider the following points:

2. Water

Use clean water to wash the ingredients. Drain the water carefully after washing.

Some herbal medicine need to be prepared by pouring boiling water. Use boiled and cooled
water (or warm water if required), to prepare recipes

3. Utensils

All utensils must be cleaned before use. Use earthen ware, porcelain, enamel pots or pans
to boil the ingredients. Use steel knives or wood spatula, plastic or nylon sieve to prepare
the recipes. Do not use any metal utensils, such as aluminum, tin or copper that could have
a chemical reaction with certain plants’ materials and become toxic, or may reduce the
effect.

4. Preparation

Before preparing: - Wash hands thoroughly.

• Have the selected ingredients ready.


• Prepare clean containers to put the finished recipes.

l The color of the herbs should be bright.

l Ripe and fresh, the bark should be intact, the fruit should have fresh and smooth

skin.

l Select ingredients that are free from caterpillar, insects, fungus, other plants’

diseases or moss (on roots).

l Do not select fruits, leaves, flowers, bark or bulbs that have already changed colour

or withered.

l Before using, clean ingredients thoroughly.