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Various beans can be used to make it. Only black ones are used in medicine. There are two types: salted and unsalted (Dan Chi). Only the unsalted variety from Jiangxi is used for treating diseases.

The method for making unsalted fermented soybeans (Dan Chi): In June, take two or three dou of large soybeans, wash them thoroughly, soak them in water overnight, drain the water, and steam until cooked. Take them out and spread them on a mat. When they are slightly warm, cover them with mugwort stalks. Check every three days until a yellow mold covers the surface completely (do not let it over-ferment). Then take them out, sun-dry, and winnow clean. Moisten them with water to an appropriate degree of dryness and wetness (the standard is when juice exudes between fingers). Place them in a jar, pack tightly, cover, with a thickness of about three cun, and seal tightly with mud. Sun-dry in the sun for seven days. Take them out and expose to air for one shichen (two hours), then mix with water again and put back into the jar. Repeat this process seven times. Finally, steam once more to remove the "fire qi," store in a jar, pack tight, and seal. It is now ready.

It tastes bitter, sweet, and astringent, and its nature is slightly warm. (Zhong Chun noted: It is not bitter-warm that cannot induce sweating and open the interstices to treat headache, chills and fever caused by Cold Damage, and toxic heat from seasonal epidemics.) It resolves acidity from vinegar and residual toxins, stops acute dysentery and bloody dysentery. Medical texts state it treats asthma and wheezing, pain, and cold sensations. (Ben Cao Jing Jiu) After steaming and fermenting, its properties change.

Another prescription: Take one sheng of Dan Chi, wrap it in silk gauze, add three sheng of water, boil down to one sheng, and drink at once. If sweat does not occur, add three liang of Ephedrae Herba (Mahuang, 麻黄). (From Zhou Hou Bei Ji Fang) In spring and summer, if there is obstruction in the chest, only dispersing agents can eliminate it. For example, shortness of breath and irritability due to Cold Damage... [Text fragment] ...dysentery with blood, use ten wen worth of Dan Chi and two cloves of garlic, mash into pills, take thirty pills each time, washed down with salt water. For accumulated phlegm and asthma triggered by yin qi and occurring during rainy weather, use one liang of Dan Chi, steam and pound into a paste, form into pills. Take seven pills with water, nine for severe cases, five for children. Lie down with head elevated after taking the medicine; the root of the disease will be permanently cut off. Avoid hot foods after taking the medicine.

Additionally, swallowing Cinnamomi Cortex (Guizhi, 桂木) under the tongue treats wind-toxicity causing knee spasms and joint pain. Use three to five sheng of Dan Chi, wrap and burn red, grind into fine powder, add one qian of Moschus (Shexiang, 麝香), and mix into powder. Take a hammer, heat it red-hot, quench it in wine, and have the patient drink three to five mouthfuls of the concentrated liquid; the toxin will descend naturally. It also strengthens spleen qi and aids digestion of milk and food.

[Discussion] The salty flavor enters the Kidney. Black soybean is the grain of the Kidney, yet its taste is sweet. Why? Because the three foot-yin meridians share the same qi in the lower body, and earth and water combine their virtues to establish circulation and operation. As for the Spleen... [Text cuts off]