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Seasonal Foods - A new perspective on Food! Spring is the liver and gallbladder time. The element is wood, the color is green/blue, the flavor is sour and acidic, and the grains are wheat, rye and barley. The fruit is the plum and the meat is fowl. The cooking method is steaming. This is a good time for fasting or cleansing of the body. A person’s diet should be lighter including more legumes, sprouted foods and young vegetables. Avoid all salty foods during this season. Good foods for the spring are kumquats, lemon, licorice, lotus, marjoram, cow’s milk, papaya, peach, peanut, rapes, polished rice, potato, raspberry, royal jelly, shitake mushroom, black and yellow soybeans, string beans, taro leaf, wheat bran, white fungus, and small amounts of white sugar. Foods for the liver are mare milk, chrysanthemums, mung beans, peppermint, pork brain, purslane, romaine lettuce, sour dates, strawberries (organic), turnip flowers, chive seeds, black sesame seeds, and most all liver meats in moderation. The liver is strained by reading. Summer is the heart and small intestine time. The element is fire, the color is red, the flavor is bitter and sharp, and the grains are corn and beans. The fruit is apricot and the meat is sheep. The cooking method is raw. This is a great time for brightly colored foods, spice and lots of fruits and vegetables. Food should only be lightly cooked on high heat for a short time. Also avoid salty and heavy foods as well as overly cold foods such as ice cream. Good foods for summer are leaf mustard, leek, nutmeg, red or green peppers, soybean oil, spearmint, star anise, sweet basil, and tobacco. Foods for the heart are ambergris, beer, chicken liver, Chinese endive, coconut shell, ginger leaves, gingko leaves, longan shells, longan seeds, and lotus fruit seeds. The heart can be strained by walking. Late summer (the last month of summer) and seasonal changing time is the time of the digestive system. The element is earth, the color is yellow, the flavor is sweet, and the grain is millet. The fruit is the date and the meat is beef. The cooking method is making stews. During this time foods are best mildly sweet, yellow and golden colored. Foods are best prepared with minimal seasoning and moderate cooking times. Late summer foods are lily flower, mung bean, pineapple, plum, pumpkin, radish leaf, red small beans, sesame oil, spinach, taro flower, wheat and wheat bran. Foods that are good for the digestive system are apple cucumbers, beef, bitter endive, bitter gourd, brake, burdock, caraway seeds, carrots, cherry leaves, chestnuts, cinnamon bark, corncobs, crane meat, deer horns, distillers grains, freshwater clams, frog, ginseng, grass carp, hairtail, honeysuckle, human milk, hyacinth bean flowers, jackfruits, pearl barely, longan, lotus fruit seeds, pearl, peppermint, persimmons. Pigeon meat, pineapples, polished rice, pork pancreas, red and black dates, rice sprouts, royal jelly, soybean paste, squash, star fruits, strawberries and the whole plant, sweet basil, tangerine peels, tea grown in Yuan Nan, China, tea melons, tofu, white string beans, whitefish and yams. Sitting and strain the digestive system. Autumn is the time of the lung and large Intestine. The element is metal, the color is white, the flavor is pungent and spicy and the grains are oats and rice. The fruit is peach and the meat is horse or dog (yuk!). The cooking method is to bake foods. Fall is the time of harvesting foods. Foods that compliment this season are more astringent, sour, heartier foods such as root vegetables. Foods are best sautéed or baked. Cook with less water at lower temperatures. Gradually begin introducing more salty and bitter foods into the diet. Foods that are good for autumn are apples, apricot, bamboo shoots, banana, barley, castor beans, chicken egg whites, cuttlefish, cuttlebone, duck, eel blood, grapefruit, ham, pork kidney, lettuce, lotus, mango, marjoram, mussel, olive, oyster, pear, persimmon, sour plum, star fruit, sugar cane, sweet potato, tangerine, water chestnut, and watermelon. Foods that are good for the lungs are small amounts of cheese, cooked gingko, cow milk, frog, Ginseng, pearl barely leaves, pork gallbladder and lungs, rapes, walnuts, western ginseng, white bait, yams. Lying can strain the lungs. Winter is the season of the kidneys and bladder. The element is water, the color is black, the flavor salty, the grains are peas, beans, and buckwheat. The fruit is chestnut and the meat is wild pig. The cooking method is sautéed. Winter is a time for warm hearty soups, whole grains, and roasted nuts. Cook foods longer at lower temperatures. Sautee foods for long amounts of time, and use salt in moderation. Foods that compliment winter are bitter gourd, clams, crab, hops, kelp, lotus pulp, oyster shell, salt, and seaweed. Foods that benefit the kidneys are carp, chestnut, chive, clams, clove, dill seed, cuttlefish, duck, eel, kelp, grapefruit peel, most all kidney meats, chicken liver, lotus, mutton, nutmeg, plum, pork, black soybean, star anise, string bean, vinegar, wheat and yam. Standing can strain the kidneys. |