The Way Of Life For Centenarians From The Deep Desert

There is a small village located in Yutian County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang. It is located in a remote area, far from the bustling city, and people live an ordinary life. It is called Laisu Changshou Village and is known as the "fourth largest hometown of longevity in the world".

Harvest of Cistanche deserticola 

There are a total of 2400 people living in this village, including 16 elderly people over 100 years old, 30 elderly people over 80 years old, and 167 elderly people over 60 years old. The proportion of people living such a long life is very high, and the elderly are all hale and full of glory.

According to centenarians, their longevity is thanks to a local treasure. Every time they stew lamb soup or make tea, they add a little bit of broomcorn (Cistanche deserticola) to it. This is a traditional Chinese medicine that is extremely suitable for growing in a desert environment where there is no permafrost all year round. It parasitizes the roots of the sandy plant Red Willow. In recent years, people have learned the artificial cultivation method of Cistanche deserticola and started a large number of artificial planting. This not only solves the problem of medicinal sources for this scarce medicinal material but also brings huge economic and ecological benefits to the local area.

Cistanche deserticola - a bumper harvest for farmers

Cistanche deserticola has a history of over 1800 years as a medicinal herb, first seen in the "Shennong Materia Medica Classic". It is said to "treat five labor and seven injuries, tonify the middle, eliminate cold and hot pain in the stem, nourish the five internal organs, strengthen yin, benefit essence and qi, have multiple children, treat women's abdominal pain, and take it for a long time to lighten the body." The "Medicinal Nature Treatise" records that it "benefits the marrow, brightens the complexion, prolong life, treat women's blood collapse, strengthen yang, greatly nourish the body, and promote red and white blood circulation." It is a famous nourishing traditional Chinese medicine with the functions of tonifying kidney yang, benefiting essence and blood The effect moistening intestines and relieves constipation.

Cistanche deserticola has long been a daily ingredient for the elderly in Changshou Village, and this dietary habit has been passed down for generations here. They have given it another name, "Desert Ginseng". The editor has included two elderly people's healthy meals, which are delicious and strong, and shared with everyone:

[Cistanche Lamb Soup]

Tonic Diet formula: about 1 jin of fresh mutton with bones, several pieces of cistanche, 2 pieces of fresh bean curd (bean skin), 1 onion, 1 carrot, about two thumbs of ginger, 1 onion, 1/4 cabbage, 1 bag of Flammulina velutipes, 1 piece of angelica sinensis, a handful of green jatropha, several red dates, about 1 tablespoon of medlar, 1 cup of rice wine, and some salt.

Harvest of Cistanche deserticola

Production method:

1. Wash the boned lamb with water 2-3 times, then put it into a pot and add water to submerge the lamb. Add half a cup of rice wine and green onions, turn to medium heat, slowly heat to a boil, remove and wash the lamb, and set aside (the above steps are to use running water)

2. Take another soup pot and add washed lamb chunks, cistanche slices, peeled onions, peeled carrot segments, crushed ginger chunks, and half a cup of rice wine. Add water to cover the ingredients, cover the pot, bring to a boil over medium to low heat, then simmer at low heat for 1 hour, then add Chinese herbal medicine and continue to simmer for half an hour. (Because I was cooking in an LC pot with a heavy lid and the heat kept inside, it had already softened in an hour and a half. Other pots may take a little longer, please consider it yourself)

3. Take another soup pot and spread it with washed Korean cabbage, golden needle mushrooms, and sliced bean curd. Add freshly cooked lamb slices and soup. (The onions, ginger, carrots, and traditional Chinese medicine that have just been stewed with lamb do not need to be placed in a new soup pot.) After about 5 minutes of cooking, season with salt and ready to eat.

4. Soft Q lamb, fresh and sweet Korean cabbage, and flavorful fresh soybean skin. With the incredibly sweet lamb and vegetable soup, even if eaten alone, it is a nutritious and full meal.

Efficacy of Tonic Diet: expel cold and keep warm, nourish liver and kidney.

Fried Cistanche and Yam Slices

Cistanche male benefits

Tonic Diet formula: 100g of fresh cistanche, 200g of fresh yam, a root of green pepper, and the appropriate amount of edible oil, salt, and monosodium glutamate.

Production method:

1. Wash the fresh Cistanche deserticola, remove the skin, slice it into slices, blanch it in boiling water for 3 minutes, remove, and set aside;

2. Wash fresh yam, peel off, slice, and set aside; Take a small amount of edible oil and heat it in a pot. Add Cistanche deserticola slices, yam slices, and other auxiliary vegetables (green peppers, chili peppers, etc.), stir fry until done, then add an appropriate amount of salt and monosodium glutamate, stir fry well, and serve.

Efficacy of Tonic Diet: nourishing kidney yin, tonifying kidney yang, strengthening spleen and blood, resisting fatigue, improving immune function.

Cistanche deserticola was included in the 2005 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China as a genuine medicinal material. Its efficacy recorded in ancient medical books has been confirmed by modern science. Through modern medical research, it has also been found that Cistanche deserticola also has various pharmacological activities, such as protecting the liver, whitening, tonifying the kidney, anti-oxidation, and anti-aging, neuroprotection (anti-Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease), protection against cerebral ischemia and cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury Improving learning and memory abilities, immune regulation, anti-fatigue and enhancing physical strength, promoting bone growth, relaxing blood vessels (lowering blood pressure), etc., have great medicinal value and health benefits.

Desert living cistanche

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In 2014, a leading industrial enterprise in the local area, Hetian Dichen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Co., Ltd., discovered a unique way for centenarians to live longer from generations of health-preserving recipes. Through the guidance of the scientific research team, it achieved the specific application of modern extract technology in the field of health products. The "Dichen Brand Kangka Tablets", a nourishing product with cell-level repair and health-preserving effects, were discovered, Inherit the way of life of centenarians from the depths of the desert, and benefit the world and the people.