Kudzu and Cinnamon Tea to reduce a fever, and more. - MAS acu-punk Elizabeth Ropp

Years ago, when I still lived alone, I woke up one night feeling feverish. I went to my kitchen cabinet, rather than the medicine cabinet, for medicine. There I found kudzu starch and cinnamon powder among my other herbs and spices. I mixed them up in a sauce pan with some apple juice. I sipped the connection on my couch and wrapped myself in a blanket. I felt the fever drain away from my body and I went back to bed.

Now that we are in the mode of stocking our kitchen cabinets with essentials to keep ourselves and our families healthy, I am going to share this remedy that my teacher, Dr. Lilliane Papin, taught me and my classmates, during acupuncture school.

You are going to need three ingredients:

1 Tbls. of Kudzu Starch
A few dashes of Cinnamon powder
1 cup of organic apple juice
Just enough cold water to dissolve the Kudzu starch

Kudzu, the invasive plant that grows all over the Southeast, is widely used in Japan for thicken soups and sauces.
In the Chinese Materia Medica, it is known as Ge Gen.

It is useful for many reasons:

Reduce a fever
Balance blood sugar
Ease neck, shoulder tension, and headaches
Alleviate diarrhea
Relieve hot flashes
Reduce alcohol consumption

Cinnamon is also a Chinese Herb, known as Gui Zhi.

It’s also useful to:

Prevent colds
Reduce phlegm that is stuck in the chest
Balance blood sugar
Reduce arthritic pain, especially pain that feels worse during cold damp weather

Apple Juice is high in sugar and should be consumed in moderation. It is a therapeutic food to hydrate and cool down the body and moisten a dry throat or soothe a dry cough.

1.Heat the apple juice in a saucepan on a low heat.

2. add a few dashes of cinnamon powder

3. Dissolve the Kudzu in a little cold or room temperature water. You need to do this so the Kudzu won’t turn into a ball of dough when you add it to the warming apple juice.

4. Once the kudzu starch is dissolved, you can pour it into the warm apple juice, keep stirring so it doesn’t get lumpy. The juice should thicken a bit.

When your tea is hot enough pour it into a mug and drink it hot.

Kudzu starch can also be used as a replacement for cornstarch for thickening soups, gravy, and other sauces. This will give your recipes more therapeutic benefit. Dr. Papin would always quote Hippocrates in her classes and workshops:

“Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.”

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