Daikon

TCM benefits of Daikon

蘿蔔 · luó bo

How daikon is seen in traditional Chinese food therapy. Traditional context, not medical advice.

• In the classics the root is 萊菔 or 蘿蔔. The seed carries the pharmacopoeia entry, classed as pungent, sweet and neutral and linked with the Spleen, Stomach and Lung.
• Wang Shixiong's handbook says raw radish leans cooling while cooked radish leans warming, and brings qi down and settles the middle.
• Pale daikon simmered with carrot and pork ribs, or with beef brisket, is the classic Cantonese soup; it is gentle and slightly sweet once cooked.
• Texts advise the pungent seed be used with care by people who feel run down, and say it should not be taken with ginseng, a belief cooks often extend to the root.

Sources: Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, 萊菔子 monograph; 隨息居飲食譜 (Wang Shixiong, 1861), 蘿蔔, entry; 本草綱目 (Compendium of Materia Medica), 萊菔 entry