Chinese dairy (was Bob Flaw Spleen)

[Guest guest]

> Another thing, is there really all that much written about dairy

> products in TCM?

> I've never see much of it in Asian stores nor mention of it in the

> cook books.

>

> Penel

 

While the Southern Chinese aren't big on dairy, dairy was somewhat

popular in Northern China for a while. The Yinshan Zhengyao was

written by a Mongolian, and has quite a few recipes in it with dairy

products of one sort or another.

 

Dairy products are usually considered to be dampening in nature. They

are cool, neutral or warm depending on their preparation

(pasteurized, homoginized, cultured, seperated, etc.) and the animal

they come from (goat, cow, sheep, other lactating animals, etc.) For

instance, goats milk is supposedly somewhat warmer in nature than

cows milk, and pasteurization supposedly can make dairy more phlegm-

producing among certain folk. I would guess that consuming dairy as a

staple of one's diet would probably only be a good idea if you lived

in a dry climate.

 

One speculation of mine (quite unfounded at the moment, of course) is

that the reason for dampness problems related with traditional

Western diets may stem from moving a suitable diet to an unsuitable

climate. Some parts of Europe can be quite dry at times.