Corn silk tea (玉米须茶, Yù Mǐ Xū Chá) is made from the stigma of Zea mays L. Corn silk is called Yu Mi Xu in Chinese and is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine.
Corn is native to Central and South America and is now widely distributed all over the world. The United States, China, and Brazil are the countries with the largest corn production in the world.
Corn resources are extremely rich, cheap, and easy to obtain, and they also have many biological activities, so corn has wide development and application prospects.
Corn silk is one of the projects of corn development and application. Corn silk has high medicinal value. In China, corn silk is called “dragon beard” and its efficacy is recorded in many Chinese medicine books.
Making tea from corn silk is the best way to use corn silk. Corn silk tea is a very popular health tea in modern times.
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How to Make Corn Silk Tea
Both fresh and dried corn silk can be used to make tea.
Take some fresh corn. Pick the corn silk from the corn, then remove the old, blackened, and rotten parts. Wash the remaining fresh corn silk with clean water to remove the dust. Put the washed corn silk into the pot, add water and cook for about 15 minutes on low heat. Remove the boiled corn silk, pour out the corn silk tea, and drink it after cooling.
The color of corn silk tea is golden yellow, and its taste is a bit sweet.
If you use dried corn silk to make tea, you should soak the dried corn silk in clean water for about 10 minutes. Take out the soaked corn silk, put it in the pot, and then add water and cook for 5 minutes.
Corn silk can be made into tea with other herbs, such as Pu Gong Ying, rose, polygonatum, etc., which will have more benefits.
Benefits of Corn Silk Tea
Corn silk tea contains a certain amount of fatty oil, volatile oil, saponins, alkaloids, and cryptoxanthin. In addition, corn silk tea also contains a lot of vitamin C, vitamin K, inositol, malic acid, sitosterol, stigmasterol, and other nutrients.
Diuretic
Corn silk tea helps the human body to urinate, and it can also eliminate the symptoms of edema in the body.
Choleretic
Corn silk tea can effectively promote the secretion and excretion of bile and can be used to treat chronic cholecystitis, cholangitis, and other diseases.
Lower Blood Sugar
Corn silk tea has a good effect on lowering blood sugar. The main substances that play a role in lowering blood sugar are saponins, flavonoids, and chromium. Saponins are the main component for lowering blood sugar, and flavonoids have a strong antioxidant capacity, which can prevent diabetes complications. Chromium is a component of the glucose tolerance factor and helps to strengthen insulin function.
Prevent Cardiovascular Disease
The volatile oil, alkaloids, and malic acid contained in corn silk can promote the expansion of human blood vessel terminals, and can also relieve diseases such as vascular arteriosclerosis.
Improve Blood Clotting Function
Corn silk is rich in vitamin C, which helps to improve the body’s blood clotting function. If the human body lacks vitamin K, the blood-clotting cells will have problems, and the blood clotting function will be impaired, which will easily cause long-term bleeding symptoms.
Side Effects of Corn Silk Tea
Corn silk tea has a strong effect of lowering blood sugar. It is best not to drink corn silk tea for patients with hypoglycemia.
For people with frequent urination and urgent urination, it is not recommended to drink a lot of corn silk tea, which will aggravate the symptoms.