Tong Kuai aka Guai aka Dang Gui aka Angelica acutiloba.

A friend said she was hitting menopause and I reckom she was too young. I remember my mum's secret.

Here's my parents Mr and Mrs John Chan Hiu Fei. My niece Jane says, "My stylo Milo "Grandma. Thanks to the little lump of Tong Kuai aka Guai aka Dang Gui aka  Angelica acutiloba. Mum used to be the Vice President of the Women's Institute of the 6th division chapter. She held cooking demos and was a cooking judge, so she knew what she was talking about.


Tong Gui  Angelica acutiloba

Gee Zai , Goji aka Wolfberry (above), garlic (below)

Chinese red dates (dried)

Ginger

and a young virgin chicken. LOL

http://youtu.be/-0KvMJCERF4

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When I arrived back to New Zealand, in 2006, my daughter treated me as a mum-daughter thing to watch a musical,"Menopause". I laughed as I was pre-menopausal and was dreading the big day.

One of the things they were singing about was TONG GUAI, and she didn't understand what it was. I explained to her. The audience were mainly women with a few brave men.

TONG GUAI is known as a women's herb. It is used as a helpful regulator of one's menses and also keeps a women young looking and also, eases a women in her transition to menopause.

This is no laughing matter, though my girls friends and I laugh about it. My mum told me, from the age of forty, I should brew this concoction with chicken every month after my menses .

What's the verdict? I breezed through my menopause without any debilitating hot flushes, weight gain, mood swings or any of the nasties associated with it. It arrived and it went even before I realised it. I wonder if the TONG GUAI was responsible for that.

And as the proof is in the eating. I went to a students' reunion, some thought I was one of the students, and another even made the remark that the teacher was younger than the students. LOL.

***These are the raw ingredients, the TONG GUAI is chalky colour, and the Chinese Medical hall proprietor will roast it, and shave it to thin slivers.

It is also called Angelica acutiloba – dang-gui in Chinese/Mandarin. A highly regarded herb used for female hormonal balance, blood purification, migraines & much more.

In New Zealand, they sell it in clumps. I try to grate it into powder as it is very hard to shave it. You can buy them in a fluid form or tablet in a health food store.

The bigger red things are dried red dates, the little ones are Gow TZE, they are very good for you. The other two is ginger and garlic. Some times I also add some shitaki mushroom. In the old days, the best chicken is a virgin rooster or a hen before it lays eggs.  We joked about this. How do you know? ***