This page is dedicated to the exhibition for the Summer 2025 Blast Course, Herbs, Acupuncture, and Moxibustion: Living Histories of Medicine in Asia. It showcases students’ experiences with traditional, family-based, or local medical practices in celebration of the course’s conclusion.
Yemok Jeon’s 🥤 Ginseng Smoothie Recipe
This is kind of a family recipe, and I think it’s one of the easiest and most delicious ways to enjoy ginseng in a modern way. Blend the mixture until it becomes smooth and creamy — and just like that, you’ve made a refreshing ginseng latte or smoothie! Ginseng has a mild natural sweetness due to its saponins, so even without added sugar, you’ll notice a subtle, earthy flavor. Honey enhances the taste and balances any bitterness, making the drink more enjoyable.
Chiara Raaf’s Tremella Soup 🍵🌸 (a.k.a. “Beauty Secret”)
When I moved to Taiwan from Germany my Taiwanese friends showed me this “beauty secret”: Tremella Soup is a popular ancient dish/dessert that has been used in Taiwan and China for centuries. With tremella mushroom, jujube, barley, lotus seeds and goji berries it’s pure TCM feel-good cuisine for your body and mind. Feel free to add apples or pears, and replace honey with rock sugar 🍯
Tremella, also known as snow fungus, is a real skin booster. It moisturizes the skin and lungs, promotes collagen production and strengthens the immune system.
A culinary highlight that will make you glow from the inside out! 🙂↕️
Jada Steward’s Fire Cider 🔥🥤
Fire Cider has its origins in the traditional folk preparation of oxymels, which are medicinal preparations using vinegar and honey. Oxymels have been passed down since at least the Middle Ages in Europe and were popular in early North America as well. Fire Cider, as a term and recipe, was popularized by herbalist Rosemary Gladstar in the late 1970s, as she wished to revive the use of traditional herbal medicine in people’s homes.
I first made the recipe in 2020, when staying healthy was at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Though I do not recall the specific social media account where I found the recipe, I do remember learning that it was used to keep activists healthy during the winter months at Standing Rock back in 2016 (source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/07/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-protesters-remain-snow). I’ve been making Fire Cider at least once a year since–I love to have it on hand as a preventative, but it can also be used when one is under the weather. The recipe typically includes garlic, onion, ginger, and horseradish distilled in apple cider vinegar. After letting it sit (maybe shaking it gently from time to time) in a cool, dry place for a few weeks, it will be ready to use. There are many ways to add slight variations to the recipe, such as adding cinnamon and other warming spices. One should take care while using it, as it is very acidic. Many people serve it with a spoonful of honey in a shot glass. I often like to have a small amount without honey, when I’m feeling brave!
Christina Stefanaki (from Berlin🇩🇪)’s Carob Honey 🍯🌰 (🌿 from Crete, Greece 🇬🇷)
I would love to take this opportunity to share a recipe from my homeland, Crete, an island in southern Greece. Crete has an abundance of high-quality wild untouched medicinal herbs and a rich tradition of local traditional remedies. I’ve joined this course because my long-term goal is to share and promote the legacy of Cretan traditional medicine with the world. As someone who lives far from my homeland, this practice does not only help my health but also helps me feel connected to it. Feel free to contact me on instagram (christina.stefanaki) if you are also interested in traditional medicines and herbs.
A few years ago I stumbled upon “carob honey” in local shops and I started noticing that carob flour was becoming increasingly popular in Greece. So, I decided to make my own carob syrup with carobs found on carob trees in my mom’s garden.
Carob or χαρούπι is also interesting historically as it was known in Greece as the “chocolate of the Occupation” as it was used as a substitute for chocolate during times of poverty and shortages, especially in during World War II and the post-war years.
The process of making carob syrup is long, as you first must collect the ripe healthy carobs from the tree, then you have to clean and cut them in smaller pieces and then you must boil them in water for some time, and you need to use a lot of carobs to achieve a honey like consistency. But, I was very surprised to find out that the taste is so much better than any store bought. It is a very sweet syrup with the distinct and strong taste of carob. But, my favorite secret recipe is using it to make a hot drink with milk and cinnamon.
Carob is considered a mediterranean superfood. It is one of the plant-based foods richest in calcium, supporting bone health and it is a healthier alternative to refined sugars as it has a lower glycemic index.
Making it is a long, but fun process that requires the helping hand of family or friends. The carob tree symbolizes the resilience and generosity of Mediterranean nature and it exhibits a significant resistance to drought, salinity, and heat.
Yuzi Zhang’s 🌿 Red Ginseng ❤️🔥 & Angelica sinensis 🌸 Herbal Drink 🥤
I participated in a traditional Chinese medicine workshop few days ago, learning the practice of guasha. This attached image is a red ginseng and angelica sinensis herbal drink that we drink prior to guasha because it could help us sustain qi and blood. Since guasha requires substantial efforts to vitalize the “clogged” waste products and reactivate blood circulation, simplifying in a phase called “活血化淤,” it is believed that drinking ginseng herbal drink could counterbalance the loss of energy in our body due to its nutrition-rich nature.
Sarai Ramirez’s Ginger, Cinnamon & Cloves Drink🥤🫚
The tea that I like to drink and make everyday has grated ginger, one cinnamon stick and a few cloves. I make sure to put all of these ingredients in a pot of water. Then I let it boil and simmer and after it gets some brown color, I let it stand for 5 minutes. Then I pour it into a mug and add a teaspoon of honey. After drinking this tea, I have noticed that I no longer get severe cramps and also that my blood sugar has stabilized.
Peter Tallcouch’s Root Beer 🌿🥤
This past weekend I got around to making a root beer syrup from sassafras bark and birch bark. When reading some books on herbal medicine, one brought up that root beer was traditionally made from a root, sassafras root, but later the US banned using sassafras root in beverages because there was a study that showed it had carcinogenic properties.
Funnily, levels from sassafras bark based root beer were a lot lower than beer (or alcohols) carcinogenic effect. I grew up with root beer as one of my favorite drinks and felt like I’ve never even tried it. This is my first iteration, it was strange at first but I really enjoyed it. Recipe: 2/3 cup sassafras bark 1/3 cup birch bark Some Cinnamon bark, and ginger Put bark in open pot, add two cups of water, bring to boil, then turn heat down to simmer, add in cinnamon and ginger Let liquid reduce by half (typically 45 mins to an hour) and then let cool Mix in 1/4 to 1/3rd cup maple syrup (sweetener) and vanilla extract This will be the syrup base and you can add carbonated soda to mix the syrup into to make a non artificial root beer! Later I found out sassafras has lots of safrole which is used to make MDMA, which may have had an effect on its ban.
Anonymous Classmate’s Experience with Acupuncture 🪡
This is my experience with acupuncture: I have had very bad migraines since I was a child. When I had them, I couldn’t do anything. Light, sound, and even touch, everything would hurt and feel x10 stronger. The pain was so intense, I could only go to bed, make my room as dark as possible and try to sleep through the pain, but of course, that’s very hard to do in school. I would take pain killers, but as a child, the dosage was very low and never fully blocked the pain. The longest I have had a migraine would last up to 4 days. Now, as an adult, I can take stronger dosage of pain killers, but I try not to, as I’m worried for my health, having grown up eating so much. I’ve gone though many medical exams, non concluant. I’m in good health, why do I have so many migraines? One day, I decided to explore acupuncture. I had heard it could work for me, so I travelled to a different city to meet a practitioner that had studied in China for several years. She examined me, my tongue, my eyes/face, and took my pulse. She said I have too much yang and that this is the cause of my migraines. I received gua sha and cupping on my back. Then I received 15 needles total through my body, 4 on my head. The sensation of the needles was incredible! I could feel each needle pulse and connect to the next. When the session stopped I felt dizzy and very very tired. The next time I had a migraine it was well after 6 month had passed. Since, my migraines have never been has bad as they had been when I was a child. I can live normally. I sometimes get headaches now, and they pass very quickly. I go back to meet her every 6 to 8 month, to maintain and keep my migraines at bay, as I feel my body gets tired and needs it.