Chinese Food Health gives you the basic approaches on how to nourish and preserve health in the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Vinegar has been one of the seven fundamental daily necessities [others include firewood(fuel), rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, and tea] in Chinese households.  Whether it is white, red, or black vinegar, they are almost always in sight of the kitchen or dining table.

According to Compendium of Materia Medica, a Chinese materia medica work written by Li Shizhen in Ming Dynasty, vinegar can ease pain, eliminate swelling, and kill bacterial.  No wonder people working in vinegar factory reportedly seldom get cold or flu.  In fact, it is a ritual for Chinese women especially in southern part to have pork trotter with ginger in sweet (black) vinegar after giving birth.  As you can see, while pork trotter is rich in calcium and vinegar helps dissolve bone’s calcium easily, ginger promotes circulation of blood and expels cold.  It really is a wisdom dish to help new mothers to replenish their physique.

Of course you don’t have to be a mom to enjoy the benefits of vinegar.  Take a look at our blood pH levels.  A healthy human blood pH should be at slightly alkaline state around 7.35 to 7.45.  Unfortunately, as we modern people often have high-protein and high-fat foods such as meat, egg, and dairy products, our blood pH levels will get acidic that induces symptoms and illnesses.  Although the taste of vinegar is sour, when it enters human body, it can turn our blood to a slightly alkaline state with low blood viscosity, which helps cleanse and detox the acidic toxins in the body like ammonia and uric acid.

Today, vinegar not only is used in cooking or as a condiment, it even becomes a member of healthy drink, like fruit vinegar.  Studies show that when the rich vitamins and amino acids contained in fruit vinegar compose with the calcium in our body, they will form calcium acetate that can enhance the calcium absorption and strengthen our immune system.  Furthermore, as fruit vinegar carries over 10 kinds of organic acids and many types of amino acids, it can clean away the lactic acid stored in our body, which is particularly helpful for people who have had intense exercise or physical work for a long time to restore their metabolic function and remove tiredness.

Wish to taste  sweet (black) vinegar but think that pork trotter may be too heavy for you?  Why not try Black Fungus In Sweet Vinegar; it’s easy to make, healthy, and suitable for everyone even if you are vegetarian.

Tips:

Although vinegar is beneficial to our health, like any food in the world, we should consume it properly to get the maximum benefit from it.  In fact, one teaspoon of vinegar (diluted in a glass of warm water) per day will do the healthy trick.  And for people who have gastric ulcer problem, they should limit their vinegar intake.  Also, since acetic acid may erode the surface of the teeth, we should raise our mouth after drinking vinegar.

Furthermore, there are foods that should not be paired with vinegar or otherwise their nutrition will be damaged.  Below are some of them.

1. Carrot

Vinegar will destroy the carotene contained in carrot and overall reduce its nutrition.

2. Alcohol

While vinegar in stomach, especially in a weak one, is usually a sufficient stimulus, alcohol can stimulate stomach acids and irritate stomach lining.  To avoid adding burden on the stomach or even developing gastritis, we should not take vinegar and alcohol at the same time.

3. Milk

When vinegar and milk are taken together, acid will induce coagulation of milk protein, which reduces digestion and hinders absorption.

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