The difference between raw and cooked coix seeds

In our impression, raw food is usually not eaten, as it will cause diarrhea and other gastrointestinal discomfort. However, this is not the case with coix seed. In addition to the difference between raw and cooked, raw coix seed and cooked coix seed also have different effects. It just depends on personal differences to decide how to eat it. Cooked coix seed has the effects of promoting diuresis and reducing swelling, and strengthening the spleen and stomach. Raw coix seed can also promote diuresis and eliminate dampness, and relieve rheumatism and body pain, so each has its own advantages.

1. Job's tears tend to be cold, so it is generally better to eat them cooked. This is because grinding them into powder after frying them can help with diuresis, reduce swelling, strengthen the spleen and remove dampness, which is the same as eating them cooked. But frying it cannot eliminate its cold nature. If used clinically, coix seed has a relatively cold nature. It is recommended to use it together with hot foods such as glutinous rice, cooked lotus root, cooked white radish, and mutton. It can be eaten by people with cold constitution.

2. Raw coix seed is stronger in clearing away heat and removing dampness than cooked coix seed, while cooked coix seed is stronger in strengthening the spleen than raw coix seed. Raw coix seed is mainly used to treat: rheumatism, body pain, damp-heat beriberi, damp-heat muscle cramps, dampness and arthritis, edema, lung atrophy and lung abscess, coughing up pus and blood, throat numbness and carbuncle, intestinal abscess and hot stranguria.

Cooked coix seed is used to strengthen the spleen and stomach, benefit the intestines and stomach, and treat diarrhea due to spleen deficiency.

3. According to the "Compendium of Materia Medica", raw coix seed belongs to the lung, spleen meridians, and large intestine meridians, and its effect of promoting diuresis and eliminating dampness is most significant. However, raw coix seed is cold in nature, and people with heavy dampness have the constitution of excessive yin and insufficient yang in their bodies, and the cold will damage the spleen. Eating raw coix seeds for a long time will cause the cold to accumulate slowly, eventually leading to spleen deficiency and the effect of removing moisture will be ineffective.

4. Cooked coix seeds are coix seeds that have been fried. The surface of cooked coix seed turns yellow, and depending on the frying time, it can be divided into fried yellow, fried burnt, and fried charcoal. Although cooked coix seed has its own coldness removed, its effect in removing dampness is better than that of raw coix seed. Cooked coix seed can effectively warm the spleen and strengthen the spleen, and has an antidiarrheal effect on people with diarrhea.

5. Eating only cooked coix seeds is like a drop in the bucket and it takes too long. People with cold and damp constitutions naturally cannot eat raw coix seeds, but raw coix seeds have a good effect in removing dampness. In the short term, it can significantly reduce the symptoms caused by dampness for people with damp-heat constitutions and those with severe dampness in the body, and relieve the patients' pain. You can add some ginger when eating raw coix seeds, which can neutralize the cold without losing its effect in removing dampness, but it cannot be eaten for a long time. Cooked coix seed has the effect of strengthening the spleen and removing dampness. Over time, the spleen can exert its own function and automatically eliminate all dampness.

6. Job's tears, also known as coix seed and Job's tears. Cooked coix seeds are fried, generally there are two types: fried until golden or fried until burnt. The raw product is mainly used to clear away heat and dampness, and fried to enhance the function of strengthening the spleen, stomach and lungs. Raw coix seed is more effective in clearing away heat and removing dampness than cooked coix seed, and cooked coix seed is more effective in strengthening the spleen than raw coix seed. Raw coix seed is mainly used to treat: rheumatism, body pain, damp-heat beriberi, damp-heat muscle cramps, dampness, edema, lung atrophy, lung abscess, coughing up pus and blood, throat abscess, intestinal abscess and hot stranguria