甘平，无毒。寒食日以单面所造酵水发成。
发明 温中健脾，消食化滞，和血止汗，利三焦，通水道；用以打糊丸，健脾胃良药
。
酒曲，红曲，女曲
甘微苦辛平，无毒。造神曲法，夏日用白面五斤，入青蒿、
苍耳、野蓼自然汁各一碗，杏仁泥四两，赤小豆二两，煮研拌面作曲，风干，陈久者良，炒
香用。举世以相思子作小豆，大谬。
发明 神曲入阳明胃经，其功专于消化谷麦酒积。陈久者良。但有积者，能消化，无积
而久服则消人元气。故脾阴虚胃火盛当禁也。酒曲亦能消食去滞气，行药力，但力峻伤胃。
红曲乃粳米所造，然必福建制者为良。活血消食，有治脾胃营血之功。女人经血阻滞，赤痢
下重，宜加用之。女曲是女人以完麦罨成黄子，消食下气，止泻痢，破冷血，《千金方》恒
用之。
即饧糖
甘温，无毒。白色者良。
发明 饴糖甘温入脾经气分，润肺气，止暴嗽，补虚冷，益津气，除唾血，仲景建中汤
用治腹痛，取稼穑之甘以缓之也。治伤寒肾虚，尺脉不至，是实土以堤水，非伐肾也。而中
满吐逆疳病，皆不可食，以其生痰助火最甚也。丹溪云，大发湿中之热，小儿多食，损齿生
虫，熬焦酒服，能消食积，下瘀血，解附子、乌头毒。拌轻粉熬焦为丸，噙化，疗咸哮喘嗽
，大吐稠痰即愈。
[Zhengbing (Steamed Cake)]
Sweet in taste, neutral in nature, non-toxic. Made on Cold Food Festival using only flour and fermented water for leavening.
[Invention] (Elucidation of properties)
Warms the middle jiao, strengthens the spleen and promotes qi transformation, resolves food stagnation and eliminates retention, harmonizes blood and stops sweating, benefits the three jiao, and unblocks water passages; when used to make paste pills, it is an excellent medicine for strengthening the spleen and stomach.
[Jiuqu (Wine Qu), Hongqu (Red Yeast Rice), Nvqu (Female Qu)]
Sweet with slight bitter and pungent tastes, neutral in nature, non-toxic.
Method for making Shenqu: In summer, use five jin of white wheat flour, add one bowl each of natural juices from Qinghao (Artemisia annua L.), Cang'er (Xanthium strumarium L.), and Yeliao (Polygonum aviculare L.), four liang of almond paste, and two liang of Adzuki beans (Vigna angularis). Boil until soft, grind, mix with flour to form qu blocks, air-dry. The older it ages, the better. Use after frying until fragrant. It is a major error for people worldwide to mistake Xiangsi seeds (Abrus precatorius L.) for Adzuki beans.
[Invention]
Shenqu enters the Yangming Stomach meridian; its function specializes in digesting accumulations of grains, wheat, and alcohol. The aged variety is superior. When there are accumulations, it aids digestion; however, long-term use without accumulations will consume the body's primordial qi. Therefore, it is contraindicated for those with Spleen Yin deficiency and excessive Stomach fire. Jiuqu also resolves food stagnation, removes stagnant qi, and facilitates the action of medicines, but its action is vigorous and may damage the Stomach Qi.
Hongqu is brewed from japonica rice (Oryza sativa L. var. japonica), but the variety produced in Fujian is considered superior. It invigorates blood and resolves food stagnation, possessing the merit of regulating Ying blood in the spleen and stomach. It is suitable for women suffering from dysentery with tenesmus due to menstrual blood obstruction.
Nvqu is made by women covering whole wheat to ferment into yellow mold. It resolves food stagnation, directs qi downward, stops diarrhea and dysentery, and breaks up cold blood. It is frequently used in the *Qianjin Fang* (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold).
[Yitang (Malt Sugar)] (i.e., Xingtang)
Sweet in taste, warm in nature, non-toxic. The white variety is superior.
[Invention]
Yitang is sweet and warm, entering the Qi aspect of the Spleen meridian. It moistens Lung Qi, arrests sudden coughs, tonifies deficiency-cold, benefits Jin fluids and Yuan Qi, and eliminates hemoptysis. Zhang Zhongjing uses it in Jianzhong Tang (Middle-Warming Decoction) to treat abdominal pain, utilizing the sweetness of agriculture (Jise) to relieve urgency. To treat Kidney deficiency in Shanghan (Cold Damage) where the Chi pulse is absent, it works by fortifying Earth to dam Water, rather than attacking the Kidney. However, it is forbidden for conditions involving middle jiao fullness, vomiting, regurgitation, and Gan disease, as it generates phlegm and assists fire most severely. Danxi stated that it greatly exacerbates heat within dampness; excessive consumption by children damages teeth and causes worms. When fried until charred and taken with wine, it can resolve food accumulations, move stasis downward, and detoxify Fuzi (Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata) and Wutou (Aconiti Radix). Mixed with Qinfen (Calomelas) and fried until charred to make pills, held in the mouth to dissolve, it treats asthma and cough, curing the condition immediately upon expectoration of thick phlegm.