Chrysanthemum tea

I have read this article on chrysanthemum tea - incidentally, my mother likes to make chrysanthemum tea occasionally, which we would buy from a traditional chinese herbal medicine store near the neighbourhood wet market - she says the tea is cooling. Like the article also says, it "cools the body and clears the liver.... also supports immunity, reduces high blood pressure, relaxes the nervous system and curbs aging". I would sometimes drink warm chrysanthemum tea during lunch at the coffee shop too.

I happened to have taken a photo of chrysanthemum flowers at the plant nursery which I visited about 3 weeks ago.

I think maybe I can buy a pot of chrysanthemum to grow at home, then we can harvest the flowers which are edible to make chrysanthemum tea to enjoy the health benefits. I found this article that says the chrysanthemum flowers "tend to bloom from May to July".

I have checked out the article on "Heat in the blood - traditional chinese medicine diagnostic patterns", and noted that among the conditions or symptoms that may arise from heat in the blood include skin conditions, and other possible TCM patterns include liver yin deficiency. On a similar note, I learnt from this related article that among the herbs that clear heat and relieve toxicity include chrysanthemum.

I found another article that also recommends chrysanthemum flowers to dispel heat generated in the body and resolve the heat rash problem.

"According to TCM principles, heat rash is an outward sign of an internal temperature imbalance. If you have heat rash, avoid eating spicy foods or sugar, drinking hot beverages or alcohol, or taking hot showers or baths-all behaviors that generate heat in the body. Prepare a cooling herbal tea with one tablespoon of peppermint leaves and two tablespoons of chrysanthemum flowers in three cups of boiling water. Steep it for 20 minutes, then strain and cool to room temperature; drink half a cup every few hours until the rash clears."

(From "How to treat heat rash")