“药膳面包”火了！加了党参的司康饼什么味儿？

Soft and buttery with a cream cheese filling, the bread that Caicai eagerly grabbed one recent afternoon tasted like an ordinary milk bun at first — until a subtle herbal bitterness emerged. The loaf is sold at a bakery affiliated with a traditional Chinese medicine hospital in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, and fortified with several TCM ingredients including Chinese angelica, tuckahoe, and goji berries. 

“I usually rely on TCM to regulate my overall health condition. When I heard the hospital was selling bread, I was immediately intrigued,” she said. “It tasted pretty good, and the price was fair. More importantly, I could tell it actually contained genuine TCM substances, so I will definitely buy it again.”

The marrying of modern food with TCM ingredients has gained traction in recent years. Catering businesses have tapped into the trend with TCM-infused ice cream, beverages, and milk tea to satisfy younger palates seeking unique flavors.

A number of hospitals have now jumped onto the bandwagon, and their bittersweet creations have turned out to be a great hit.

The Yangzhou Hospital of TCM started selling six flavors of TCM-infused bread in early April, and the waiting time was as long as two hours at the beginning, said Zhao Wei, deputy director of the hospital’s preventive medicine center.

“We have since ramped up production and adjusted sales procedures, and the average daily sales are around 3,000 to 4,000 pieces of bread,” he said. 

Zhao said that a growing number of young people want to improve their health condition through TCM therapies but dread the pungent and bitter taste of herbal decoctions. “So we came up with the idea of integrating ancient, classical TCM formulas into bread recipes,” he said.

Each of the six flavors is priced around 10 yuan ($1.4). All TCM ingredients used belong to an official list of herbal ingredients that can be used as both medicine and food.

The tender bread that Caicai favored is derived from a hair-enriching formula recorded in Bencao Gangmu, or Compendium of Materia Medica, a medical encyclopedia compiled by Li Shizhen, a renowned herbalist from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Another creation is a scone containing eight TCM ingredients, including ginseng and licorice. It is inspired by another ancient formula originally designed to alleviate fever, agitation, thirst, and other conditions.

Media reports show that hospitals in Tianjin municipality and the southwestern province of Guizhou, as well as Tongrentang, a leading TCM brand, are selling TCM-infused bread products and winning the hearts of customers.

Wang Yi, director of the diet therapy and nutrition department at Guang’anmen Hospital of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, said these TCM-infused food build on a TCM practice known as Yao Shan, or medicated diet, where ingredients serve both nutritional and medicinal purposes.

According to the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, medicated diets have been incorporated into over 400 TCM treatment protocols, 50 TCM nursing guidelines, and 20 TCM preventive medicine guidelines.

Wang said that as public health awareness grows in China, medicated foods are gaining wider recognition. “The medicated diet system not only helps enhance public health, prevent disease, and reduce healthcare costs but also drives economic growth as it will enhance growth in agriculture, industry, and services,” she said.

However, Wang emphasized that TCM food production must comply with national regulations, including the list of dual-purpose TCM ingredients. It is also important to follow basic TCM principles and take individual health conditions and regional environments into consideration when consuming such products.