What is Chuan Bei Mu (川贝母)?

Since I got a picture of it, let me introduce what this is.  Chuan Bei is included in many off-the-shelf chinese cough medicine.  This helps to relieve cough.  Apparently there are many grades of it.  I’m not a expert which is the best, but I will go for at least the mid range to high range.  It cost in the range of S$15-S$20 for a tael  (liang).  The shop keep should be able to advise, as some are less bitter.

Other than boiling drinks like the pear drink to relief cough, it can also be used as a “filler” grounded with pearl (珍珠）into fine powder, which is fed to babies or toddlers (in the grounded form) when they have lots of phlegm.  As the amount of pearl is so little, chuan bei makes a good “filler”, ie ground together with the pearl to increase the content of the final gounded powder.  It not only act as a filler (to increase the quantity for easy feeding) but also helps to relief cough, which usually comes with phlegm.  You don’t have to grind it yourself, the shopkeeper of the chinese medicine shop has their special mortar and pestle to grind them.