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Commonly known as grape.
Sweet, cold in nature, non-toxic.
The *Shennong Bencao Jing* (Divine Farmer's Materia Medica) records its use in treating damp-bi syndrome in the sinews and bones, benefiting qi, strengthening physical power, stabilizing willpower, making the body robust and healthy, resisting hunger, enduring wind and cold, and it can be used to make wine.

[Invention] The nature of grapes is cold and slippery; excessive consumption causes diarrhea. Zhu Danxi stated that people in the Southeast who eat them often suffer from heat diseases, whereas those in the Northwest eat them without ill effect. This is because grapes tend to drain downward through the water passages. People in the Northwest have a dense constitution, thus they possess the efficacy described in the *Bencao Jing*, which is nothing surprising.

Sweet, neutral in nature, non-toxic.
[Invention] Sugarcane is the fruit of the Spleen. Its juice is sweet and cold, capable of draining fire and heat. When boiled down into sugar, it becomes sweet and warm, thereby assisting damp-heat. Sugarcane juice has been praised since ancient times for relieving xiao-ke (wasting-thirst syndrome) and resolving alcohol intoxication. However, Meng Shen claimed that consuming it with alcohol or food generates phlegm; does he not know its merit in resolving alcohol toxicity and clearing heat? The *Rihua Zi Bencao* further states that brown sugar can resolve alcohol toxicity, indicating ignorance that the boiling process transforms it to assist alcohol in generating heat, differing significantly from the nature of sugarcane juice. Just as Licorice Root (Gancao) becomes hot when exposed to fire, and Sesame Oil becomes cold when exposed to fire, these are differences in material nature, which physicians must understand. In recent times, fresh sugarcane juice has been used to treat dysentery with effective results, due to its sweet-cold nature nourishing the Stomach and clearing damp-heat.

Those black in color like oil are (Brown Sugar).
Sweet, warm in nature, non-toxic.
[Invention] Brown sugar has a warm nature; it harmonizes the Spleen and Stomach and soothes the Liver. Therefore, it is often used as a guiding agent in formulas treating Spleen/Stomach disorders or purging the Liver. Currently, people who smoke tobacco and suffer from its toxicity use this sugar dissolved in water to detoxify. However, its nature assists damp-heat, so it should not be consumed in excess. Charred brown sugar is most effective in treating postpartum blood stasis rushing to the Heart, as well as in cases of emaciation, old age and weakness, and bloody dysentery where purgatives are contraindicated.

This refers to Rock Sugar. Those scattered and white like frost are called Tangshuang (Sugar Frost), which differs from honeystones formed by mountain bee honey on rocks.
Sweet, neutral in nature, non-toxic.
[Invention] Those condensed into blocks like stone are Shimi (Rock Honey); those light and white like frost are Tangshuang (Sugar Frost). Compared to purple brown sugar, it is slightly milder. Although their functions are similar, the difference lies in that white enters the Qi level, while purple enters the Blood level. White sugar frost can also resolve tobacco toxicity. Only yellow-colored sugar has a hot nature, and those with damp-heat should avoid it. It is said in the world that sugar’s nature is damp-heat, and excessive consumption causes dental caries and gan syndrome (infantile malnutrition/ulcers). Recently, I have observed that patients suffering from oral gan syndrome recover after chewing rock sugar slowly, utilizing its ability to eliminate gan accumulation and grind away stagnant damp-heat. For sudden onset of coughing and hemoptysis that has just stopped, cooking rock sugar with Swallow’s Nest vegetable and taking it continuously is beneficial, as it gently tonifies the Lung and Stomach without the risk of obstructing the pathogenic factor. However, those with phlegm-dampness in the Stomach may feel nauseous after taking it, due to its sweet and cloying nature adhering to the diaphragm.