Lychee, yang energy and nosebleeds

[miladyinsanity]

LOL Tepee!

[aznsailorboi]

Consuming too much rambutan will result in Damp-Heat, of which a common symptom is purging. Counter that with Durian....which gives Real Heat (wink wink).

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so what happens when u get rid of the damp heat....now you're left with too much heat from the durian......do u eat watermelon to bring back the yin in balance?

hmm this is an interesting subject by itself....should we start a new topic ? yin yang food items, medicinal properties and side effects. and how to restore balance?

[aprilmei]

Consuming too much rambutan will result in Damp-Heat, of which a common symptom is purging. Counter that with Durian....which gives Real Heat (wink wink).

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so what happens when u get rid of the damp heat....now you're left with too much heat from the durian......do u eat watermelon to bring back the yin in balance?

hmm this is an interesting subject by itself....should we start a new topic ? yin yang food items, medicinal properties and side effects. and how to restore balance?

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I heard that mangosteens are supposed to balance durians. My Malaysian friends also swear by drinking salted water out of the durian shell to balance its heat. I haven't tried it.

Edited February 23, 2006 by aprilmei (log)

[Kent Wang]

There are numerous references on Google to the Song Dynasty poet, Su Tung Po, who was said to have eaten 300 lychees a day when he was exiled to Guangdong.

Does anyone have more information about this fellow. Maybe he wrote a poem about lychees, too?

[AzianBrewer]

What yang??? You guys/gals are bunch of wuss!

[Fengyi]

There are numerous references on Google to the Song Dynasty poet, Su Tung Po, who was said to have eaten 300 lychees a day when he was exiled to Guangdong.

Does anyone have more information about this fellow. Maybe he wrote a poem about lychees, too?

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Hi Kent!

You might find more by googling the name 'Su Dongpo' or 'Su Shi' - that's the Pinyin versions of his (two) names. He was really into food, poetry, calligraphy and all the good things in life.

You might have heard of the famous Hangzhou Dongpo Pork dish (东坡肉). which is one of the great celebrations of belly meat as we know it That's supposed to be named after (or some say he invented it!) the man himself.

His poetry is REALLY good and well worth reading!! and it wouldn't surprise me if he did eat so many lychees!

BTW, the ones we are getting here in Beijing are flooding in now - boy! are they lovely!!! SOooooooooo juicy!

[jo-mel]

There are numerous references on Google to the Song Dynasty poet, Su Tung Po, who was said to have eaten 300 lychees a day when he was exiled to Guangdong.

Does anyone have more information about this fellow. Maybe he wrote a poem about lychees, too?

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Hi Kent!

You might find more by googling the name 'Su Dongpo' or 'Su Shi' - that's the Pinyin versions of his (two) names. He was really into food, poetry, calligraphy and all the good things in life.

You might have heard of the famous Hangzhou Dongpo Pork dish (东坡肉). which is one of the great celebrations of belly meat as we know it That's supposed to be named after (or some say he invented it!) the man himself.

His poetry is REALLY good and well worth reading!! and it wouldn't surprise me if he did eat so many lychees!

BTW, the ones we are getting here in Beijing are flooding in now - boy! are they lovely!!! SOooooooooo juicy!

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I love Su Shi's poetry. One of my books on Tang and Sung poetry does have a poem on Lichees by Su Shi (Su Dongpo) entitled"

"A Lament for Lichees"

(Just the first verse)

"Every ten li is a station swirling with dust,

Every five li a post t urge couriers on;

Men die like flies, their corpses line the road,

So that lichees and longans may be delivered to court."

This refers to all the lichee and longans delivered from south China to the northwest --- just for the Lady Yang a favorite of the emperor. The cost of this in lives was one of the reasons for his downfall.

Here are 2 links to parts of the poem (with a different lilt to the translation) and to a connection of lichees to durian!

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?t=1033

http://www.saltshaker.net/20061222/three-torches-of-fire

Edited June 25, 2007 by jo-mel (log)

[Gastro888]

What about mangoes? Aren't they yeet hay, too? I am breaking out after eating 5 over the course of two days. Or I'm just stressed...

[AzianBrewer]

The only fruit that I won't touch is durian...My Malaysian friend those me that they eat that rice as a meal.

[Gastro888]

Durian is quite yeet hay from what I understand. Luckily I don't eat those. What should we eat to counterbalance it?

[XiaoLing]

What does yeet hay mean? Does it mean heat chi from foods?

[Gastro888]

"Yeet hay" = Cantonese for "hot air/breath", so I guess heat chi from foods? I could be wrong.

According to my mom, this manifests itself as sudden acne, canker sores and a general sluggish or "hot" feeling. Overexposure to sun does this to you, too. I need to make some jook jeh sui to counteract our exposure to this hot weather & my overconsumption of mangoes. (Up to 8 mangoes in the past two days now)

[XiaoLing]

That's what I thought it was. In Mandarin it would be"huo chi" or fire breathe/chi.

My grandmother tells me that Duck is "liang chi" or cool breathe/chi so when I have a lot of "huo chi" (or anytime for that matter) I would eat some cold braised duck wings. YUM!

[Gastro888]

So I can eat some "fauh gnap" (Cantonese roast duck) to counteract the yeet hay? Seriously? Sweet!

[AzianBrewer]

Don't mean to jump off topic but some wise old Chinese lady told me that ducks are "toxic" (not chemically poisonous). Is that true?? In terms of balancing out the heat from Durian, mangosteen.

[XiaoLing]

Ahhh...Reminds me of the Dae Jang Geum (Da Chang Jin) episode when her teacher made duck soup and made the emperor severly ill. But as it turned out, it wasn't the duck but rather the sulfer in the water around the area.

I don't really know if ducks are toxic. My grandmother (another wise old Chinese lady) told me that ducks are liang shing and it's ok to eat. Especially since my brother and I are always getting nose bleeds.

But then again, I think the morale of the story here is to not eat anything in excess.

[miladyinsanity]

The only fruit that I won't touch is durian...My Malaysian friend those me that they eat that rice as a meal.

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Yes. But I think it's less common now...mostly it's eaten as a fruit these days.

It is very heaty, and very rich if you've got good ones. Pretty calorific too.

My recommendation is eat mangosteens and skip the durian.

Mangoes are considered heaty too, I think. You're not supposed to eat them if you have coughs and such.

[Gastro888]

Don't mean to jump off topic but some wise old Chinese lady told me that ducks are "toxic" (not chemically poisonous).  Is that true??  In terms of balancing out the heat from Durian, mangosteen.

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Eh? Seriously?!

[Pan]

Don't mean to jump off topic but some wise old Chinese lady told me that ducks are "toxic" (not chemically poisonous).  Is that true??  In terms of balancing out the heat from Durian, mangosteen.

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Eh? Seriously?!

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Yeah. I was going to suggest rambutan, but manggis will do.

Other cooling things are melons and cucumber, as I recall. (My mother did surveys of our neighbors -- mind you, a few hundred of them, if I remember correctly, not just a few -- on which foods they considered "Hot," "Cold" and "Medium" [sederhana in Malay].)

[rooftop1000]

What about mangoes?  Aren't they yeet hay, too?  I am breaking out after eating 5 over the course of two days.  Or I'm just stressed...

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From a "western" point of view many people are allergic to mango skins, they are somehow related to Cashews and even farther to poison ivy.

tracey

[miladyinsanity]

What about mangoes?  Aren't they yeet hay, too?  I am breaking out after eating 5 over the course of two days.  Or I'm just stressed...

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From a "western" point of view many people are allergic to mango skins, they are somehow related to Cashews and even farther to poison ivy.

tracey

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Coincidentally, a blogger I read mentioned this just yesterday.

God help you if you don't wash your hands after skinning mangoes. Or if you have to skin too many without gloves. *remembers palms as red as a monkey's butt and itched like fire ants*

[djohn]

What about mangoes?  Aren't they yeet hay, too?  I am breaking out after eating 5 over the course of two days.  Or I'm just stressed...

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From a "western" point of view many people are allergic to mango skins, they are somehow related to Cashews and even farther to poison ivy.

tracey

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An additional note on that when i was in phillipines, i was stared at for eatting the seed(bitting the meat off it actually). the hairs of the seed apparently makes the mouth and throat itchy...tho i've experianced this myself, im still very much in denial..i mean how can u throw away anything on a mango without a good lick or two first...8)

[Kent Wang]

Don't the "hairs of the seed" get stuck in your teeth?

[LuckysticksPRC]

I was talking to a lady in my office the other day about lychees, and I also received the same advice to eat sparingly (difficult to do around here when they're in season). But then she told me that the same "huo" element is in McDonalds food in abundance, and that her son got a nosebleed recently because of it.

I'm not too familiar with food elements and their effects, but this sounds kinda dodgy. Mind you, she had just finished telling me how western fest food was polluting Chinese society, but could it be true?

[Naftal]

Hello- I have only recently discovered the joys of fresh lychees, so please excuse my simple questions/observations. I have read that green tea is cooling, would this make it a natural partner to lychee? Also, I have seen a similar fruit called longan(spelling?). It is sort of tan in color,but the inside looks very similar to lycees.Are its properties the same as those of lycee?

Thank you....