Oriental Medicine - Jow Recipes

Please remember, in supplying the following information, no claims are being made.
This is for educational purposes only and you should consult your Medical Doctor, or knowledgeable health care practitioner for further use or treatment of injuries.

There are two classes of jow, toxic and non-toxic. The non-toxic variety will produce a very potent jow suitable for healing open cuts and wounds. The toxic variety of herbs may be added to the non-toxic herbs to produce an even more potent jow, which must be kept away from cuts, and away from the mouth.

Non-Toxic Herbs

Group I
Aucklandia Root (Guang Mu Hsiang)
Frankincense (Ru Hsiang)
Myrrh (Mei Yao or Mo Yao)

Group II
Chinese Angelica Root (Dang Gwei)
Cat-Tail Pollen (Pa Huang)
Safflower (Hung Hua)

Group III
Root Pseudo-Ginseng (T'ien Ch'i)
Red Peony Root (Ch'ih Shou)
Dragon's Blood (Shweh Jin)

Toxic Herbs

Group I
Borneo Camphor Tree (Lung Nao Xiang Bing Pian)

Group II
Clove Tree (Ding Xiang)
Peach Kernel (Prunus Persica)d   (this herb is also in Group III - Toxic)

Group III
Rhubarb (Da Huang) (this herb is also in Group I - Toxic)
Horse Money or Horse Coin (Ma Ch'ien)  EXTREMELY POISONOUS! But it greatly increases the strength of all the other herbs in the mixture.)

As can be imagined, Chinese doctors rarely give out the recipes for their dit da jow's, as they are usually family secrets that are generations old. However, there are a few recipes available in Western literature.  Dr. Yang Jwing Ming provides some very effective dit da jow's in the appendix to his book "Analysis of Shaolin Chin Na", and there are also some recipes in "Secret Shaolin Formulae For The Treatment Of External Injury".

The following then are an assortment of jow and liniment recipes gathered from various sources. Please see the credits at the bottom of this page for the original sources.

Once again, please remember that no claims are being made about these recipes, and consultation with your medical practitioner is recommended for treatment of any injury.

Finally, the recipes……
[top of page]

All Purpose Jow
Iron Palm Jow
Recipe 1
Recipe 2
Recipe 3
Recipe 4 (Zheng Gu Shui )
Recipe 5
Tiger Balm

These two recipes are simple to make, the herbs should be available in most good health food stores or grocery store and they can be used immediately ie: they don’t have to be aged for weeks or months.

All Purpose Jow

• Alcohol (Vodka, Gin, Brandy - even Rubbing Alcohol) 1 or 2 quarts
• Breadstraw
• Calendula (Marigold)
• Camomile
• Comfrey (if you can still get it - you may have to grow your own if you want to add this)
• Common Club Moss
• Cow slip
• Dandelion
• Shepherd's Purse
• Stinging Nettle
• St. John's Wort
• Wintergreen oil (Many times this comes together with rubbing alcohol, either way is fine - obviously if you're going to use rubbing alcohol you won't need the vodka, gin, etc. Remember, boxers and other athletes have been using it for hundreds of years and they get abused a lot more on a daily basis than most of us.)

Use 1 oz. of each herb, pour the alcohol into a glass jar (or back into the alcohol bottle - all the herbs should have been ground or are small enough to funnel in). Leave it in a dark place for a week, shaking occasionally and you're ready to roll ( no pun intended ). True, the longer it keeps the better it will be, but you can use it in about an hour or two if necessary.

Back to the Recipe List

Iron Palm Jow

Start with the above All Purpose formula and ADD THE FOLLOWING:

• Horestail [horsetail?]
• Mallow
• Cow parsnip
• Fenugreek
• Walnut
• Yellow dead Nettle

Back to the Recipe List

Dit Da Jow recipe 1

• Arnica blossoms (anti-inflamatory, pain relief)
• Comfrey (anti-inflamatory, pain relief)
• Blessed Thistle (blood purifier)
• Goldenseal root (antibiotic, wound healing)
• Ginger root (circulation, wound healing, pain relief)
• Myrrh (antiseptic, circulation, wound healing)
• Sasparilla root (blood purifier)
• Witch Hazel (anti-inflamatory, pain relief)

Use equal proportions of all the herbs (OK, myrrh is a resin) listed, by weight.
Grind the herbs in a mortar & pestle (or electric grinder) and place them in a glass jar.
Add 80 or 90 proof alcohol ( vodka, sake, whatever  ) Use 4 ounces of dried herbs to one pint of alcohol base (or equivalent proportions).
Seal the jar tightly. Allow the infusion to work for two weeks; once or twice a day, swirl the liquid gently through the herbal mash.
After two weeks, strain off the liquid and discard the herbal residue; pour into smaller glass containers.
This tincture can be applied as is to swollen or bruised areas, or can be mixed with a thickener (like lanolin or safflower oil) and a hardener (like beeswax) to make an ointment. This formulation has also been effective in the treatment of arthritis, for pain relief and restoration of range of motion.
This appears to be a formula that uses equivalent western herbs, rather than oriental herbs, and possesses both analgesic and anti-biotic properties.

Back to the Recipe List

Dit Da Jow recipe 2

Place in a jar with white wine (Gao Liang Wine or any other high alcohol content wine) for 7-15 days. Can be used for all injuries that don't break the skin.

Back to the Recipe List

Dit Da Jow recipe 3

This recipe comes from the "Secret Shaolin Formulae For The Treatment Of External Injury" and is used to treat "injury of tendon and bones caused by “Chin Na Luo" which is a type of injury caused by overstreching the tendons.

Grind the musk into fine powder before grinding the rest of the herbs, which should also be sieved.
Mix these with the musk and shape into pills with 1030g honey.
Each pill should weigh about 4.5g.
Wrap in waxed paper before packing them in a box for use.
1 pill twice a day, chase with rice wine.
Prohibited to pregnant woman.

These herbs contain "sulphides" essential oils, resins, alkaloids, flavinoids, fatty acids, fatty oils, glucosides, vitamins, proteins and salts that all have varying actions on different systems of the human body.

Musk for example has at least 26 identified chemical constituents and has clinically been shown to exhibit:

• Central nervous system-stimulating effect
• Hypotensive effect (increases respiration and lowers blood pressure)
• Male hormone-like effects
• Uterus stimulating effects, such as contractions
• Remarkable anti-inflammatory effect
• Strong anti-bacterial effect on Staphylococcus and E.coli

The interesting thing about Chinese herbs, and something that has been proven in laboratory tests, is that the overall effect of a recipe is greater than the sum effects of its individual ingredients. That means when you mix herbs, you get more of an effect than the herbs would give if used separately. This is known as synergism.

Pyritum: dip in vinegar, allow to sit in open air. A green "rust" will form. Do this seven times, thereby dissloving a certain amount of copper so that it can enter the solution.

Peach Seed constituents:

• Fatty oils: 40%-50%
• Oleic acid
• Palmitic acid
• Stearic acid

In large doses the oleic acid is toxic and in very large doses can cause death. In controlled doses, and in conjunction with these other constituents it exhibits:

• Anticoagulant effect
• Hypotensive effect
• Antiphlogistic and analgesic effect
• Effective against tuberculosis
• Also detoxificant and laxative.
• Please note that "tao-jen" as purchased in a Chinese herbal shop is DRIED peach kernel. The prussic acid has been neutralized in the drying process.
  

Regarding ma-huang, yes it contains some powerful compounds:

• Alkaloids 0.3-1.5% ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, norpseudoephedrine N-methyl-ephedrine, N-methylpseudoephedrine, ephedrines A, B,C Essential oils: 1-a-terpinol, noracosan-10-ol, tricosan-1-ol nonacosan
• As such it should be treated with respect and used sparingly.

As an aside Western people started hearing about the efficacy of ma-huang, as well as other herbs (Cordyceps; tung-chung-hsia, and Aconite; fo-ti-tieng or fu-tzu) and when they felt the benefits of their action, mistakenly thought "more is better" and subsequently overdosed, causing frightening problems, sometimes death. Now the substances are regarded as toxic, and some are banned in some places.

Back to the Recipe List

Dit da jow recipe 4: Zheng Gu Shui

Alleviates the pain from fractures, dislocated joints, tears of muscle, ligaments, cartilage and other soft tissue injuries. Also alleviates rheumatic pain, muscle aches and fatigue following physical exercise. Dissipates pain and discomfort following various sports injuries.

Traditional Chinese Rationale

Improves blood circulation, reduces swelling and relieves pain. It promotes regeneration of tissue at fracture site and repair of soft tissue injury. It stimulates the healing of bones, ligaments, tendons and muscle. This preparation is applied to the affected area and rubbed in gently.

Back to the Recipe List

Dit da jow recipe 5
1 oz.=30 grams

Take all ingredients and grind into a fine powder
Add the whole bottle of vodka or gin
Mix well and rub into the injured area.
The beauty of this particular recipe is that you don’t have to bury it for two months before you can use it.
If you desire to have the herbs soak, pour the combination into a dark glass container and place it in a closet or cupboard where it shouldn’t get too hot, and periodically shake the liniment once or twice a week.

Back to the Recipe List

Tiger Balm recipe

Melt beeswax and petrolium jelly in a pot until completely liquified.
Remove from heat, quickly stir in camphor blocks (may help to chop or grate camphor prior).
Add rest of ingredients, stir until consistent, and camphor has melted.
Pour into permanant container, and let congeal.
The above recipe will make a nice tiger balm equivalent to the commercial white stuff. If ammonium hydroxide is added, it turns red, and adds a little more heat to it.

Back to the Recipe List