About yakuzen ingredients

Yakuzen ingredients are not only special ones; they include the everyday ingredients we can get hold of in daily life. The basic idea of yakuzen is to keep the body in balance to suit your purpose, the season and your body. Here we look at yakuzen ingredients in detail.

1. The basics of yakuzen ingredients

Yakuzen aims to keep the body in balance by drawing the most from what ingredients do. You can choose the right ingredient for whatever is off: recovering from tiredness, easing the cold, building resilience. Ingredients that answer how the body changes through the seasons matter in yakuzen too.

Yakuzen ingredients, then, are ingredients that support your health, and many are easy to bring into everyday meals.

2. Everyday ingredients are part of yakuzen too

Some picture yakuzen as using special or expensive kampo ingredients, but supermarket ingredients are part of yakuzen too. These everyday ingredients, for instance, work in yakuzen terms.

• Ginger: warms the body and helps circulation. It works well for feeling the cold and for keeping colds off.
• Garlic: builds resilience and strengthens the body.
• Carrot: replenishes qi and helps you rebuild your strength. It is particularly worth reaching for when tired.

Bringing these into everyday meals as part of yakuzen can be expected to settle how you feel naturally.

3. Classic yakuzen ingredients

Among yakuzen ingredients, these are the classics, held to work particularly well.

• Goji berry: eases tired eyes and builds resilience. It is also held to be good for the skin and has long been a favourite.
• White wood ear: keeps the body's moisture and works well for dry skin and a dry throat. It suits the dry seasons of autumn and winter.

These are widely available at supermarkets and specialist shops and are easy to bring into cooking.

4. Choosing yakuzen ingredients for the season

In yakuzen, how you feel changes as the seasons change, so choosing ingredients to match matters. Bringing in cooling ingredients in summer and warming ones in winter lets you manage how you feel through the year.

• Spring: eating green and yellow vegetables that help clear things out, such as spinach and nanohana, makes it easier to clear what built up over winter.
• Summer: using cooling ingredients such as tomato and cucumber heads off the drain the heat puts on you.
• Autumn: bringing in moistening ingredients such as pear and white wood ear heads off the trouble dryness brings.
• Winter: use warming ingredients such as ginger and garlic to keep the cold out of the body.

In summary

Yakuzen ingredients are close to hand and need no special preparation or expensive materials. Put everyday ingredients to good use and eat to suit the state of your body and the season, and you support your health naturally. Bringing what you know of yakuzen into everyday meals makes them work better and balance better.