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Taste sweet, nature neutral, non-toxic. Enters the Spleen Meridian. Avoid raw green onion. For every one jin of honey, add four liang of water, refine in a porcelain vessel until foam is removed; the degree is reached when a drop does not disperse in water. It harmonizes hundred herbs and resolves various toxins. Calms the five zang organs and tonifies various deficiencies. Moistens the large intestine and beautifies complexion, regulates the spleen and stomach and eliminates mental restlessness. Combined with ginger juice, it treats newly formed dysentery; combined with Allium macrostemon (Xiebai) applied externally, it treats burns and scalds.
It gathers the essence of a hundred flowers and combines with the qi of rain and dew to ferment. Its qi is clear and mild, its taste sweet and beautiful; for patterns of deficiency-excess and cold-heat, there is none that is not suitable.
For those with deficiency and slipping of the Large Intestine, even refined honey is contraindicated. Sour substances (Vinegar), when ingested, cause mental restlessness; eating with green onion harms the person; eating with lettuce causes diarrhea; after eating honey to fullness, vinegar must not be eaten, causing sudden death.

Taste sour, nature warm, non-toxic. Enters the Liver Meridian. Pouring wine on red-hot charcoal and inhaling the aroma often brings the dead back to life in the delivery room. Applying externally to treat carbuncles and sores, surgical formulas have repeatedly revived patients. Eliminates pain in the heart and abdomen, completely breaks up mass accumulations. Kills the toxicity of fish and meat, suitable for daily use. Chen Cangqi said: "Excessive consumption damages sinews and bones, damages the Stomach, and damages the complexion."

Taste salty, nature cold, non-toxic. Enters the Kidney Meridian. Rubbing teeth relieves pain, washing eyes dispels wind. For constipation of both stool and urine, insertion or guidance leads to immediate passage. For mental and abdominal irritability and pain, taking an emetic leads to recovery. Beneficial for treating hernia and warding off evil influences, harmless for phlegm retention and cholera-like disease.
Moistening downward produces saltiness; salty flavor travels to the Kidney. For asthma and cough, edema, and wasting-thirst, strict avoidance of table salt is necessary, as it may either draw out phlegm, coagulate blood vessels, or assist water pathogenic factors. Excessive consumption damages the complexion and injures sinew strength. Therefore, people in the Northwest are intolerant of saltiness, having few illnesses and long lives; people in the Southeast are fond of saltiness, having short lives and many illnesses. Green salt has the same functions but enters the Liver to disperse wind.

Taste pungent, nature greatly hot, toxic. Enters the Stomach and Large Intestine meridians. Warms the middle and directs qi downward, dispels wind and resolves phlegm. Excellent for food stagnation and promoting diaphragmatic comfort; jointly treats abdominal pain and stomach cold.
Contraindicated for individuals with yin deficiency and hyperactive fire. Bi Chengqie (Piperis Longi Fructus) is the larger variety of Piper nigrum (Hu Jiao); they belong to the same category but different species, and can also easily cause rebellious qi to ascend.