Apple — Classic Formulas
Ping Guo · Fructus Mali Pumilae
Primary Actions
- Generates Fluids and quenches thirst — Lung and Stomach dryness with dry mouth, thirst, dry cough, and summer Heat fluid depletion; the fresh sour-sweet juice moistens and cools without the cold heaviness of stronger Yin tonics
- Strengthens the Spleen and harmonises the Stomach — poor appetite, indigestion, mild diarrhea, and constipation; apple pectin acts bidirectionally — adsorbs toxins and firms stools in diarrhea while lubricating the bowels in dryness-constipation; the definitive Spleen-harmonising food-medicine
- Clears Summer Heat — refreshing, cooling dietary therapy for summer Heat patterns with fatigue and thirst; one of the classical summer foods in Chinese dietary medicine
Classic Formulas
- Ping Guo Zhou (苹果粥) — apple congee for Spleen deficiency with poor digestion and mild diarrhea; cooked apple with white rice harmonises the Stomach and supplements the Spleen Qi; classical dietary therapy for convalescent patients
- Fresh apple juice — taken at room temperature for summer Heat quenching; combined with pear juice (Li Zhi) and sugarcane juice (Zhe Jiang) for the classical 'Five Juices Drink' variant to generate Fluids in febrile disease recovery
Classical Text References
- Ben Cao Shuo Yao (supplementary materia medica, Qing dynasty): 'Ping Guo (苹果) — sweet and sour, cool; nourishes Yin, generates Fluids, harmonises the Stomach and Spleen; eaten raw for thirst and summer Heat; cooked for digestive weakness; the most widely consumed fruit-medicine in China'
- BOTANICAL NOTE: Ping Guo (苹果) refers to the cultivated European apple Malus pumila Mill. (syn. Malus domestica Borkh.) — introduced to China from Central Asia in the late Ming dynasty and widespread from the Qing dynasty onwards; older Ben Cao references to Ping Guo or Lin Qin may refer to native Chinese apple species (Malus asiatica Nakai, Malus spectabilis); the modern cultivated apple entered the TCM food-medicine lexicon relatively recently and is primarily a dietary therapeutic (shi liao, food therapy) rather than a formal drug.