A friend, L, brought me to a medical hall that she swears by all the way in the northern part of the island. You see, we live on the west and I can still (easily) get lost in the city, so going to the north is almost like driving all the way to Malaysia. But, I digress.

The Chinese medical store is packed full of herbs and ointments, including many unidentifiable dried animal parts. The owners are a couple in their late 40s / early 50s with three kids. The husband, Peter, is Singaporean and fluent in English but the wife, Anna, who also happens to be the main expert, prefers to converse in Mandarin.

Anna acknowledges that we are pressed for time because L had called in advance and asked her to prepare the herbs I need. She also serves each of us a generous bowl of premium birds nest (boiled with longan and a few slices of 泡参) to showcase the quality of the birds nest. According to L, the birds nest sold here is even better (in terms of quality and price) than the supplier contact that a Chinese chef friend gave her. The birds nest looks different from the ones I’ve been eating and the texture is also significantly different; slightly more gelatinous.

The first thing Anna gives me, while her staff served up the birds nest, is a stapled set of handwritten confinement recipes (产后坐月滋朴汤) and a list of common Chinese herbs listed in the recipes. She also tells me that the recipes are copyright so I must not publish and distribute them. They are given out only because I’m a friend of L and is there to buy some herbs from her.

Together with L’s guidance, I accept most of Anna’s recommendations and end up spending a couple thousand dollars on the herbs. Some of these herbs may even run out by the time I’m doing my confinement month so the total expense for the herbs alone could very well be more. For example, a small box of good-but-not-premium grade Cordyceps costs $500 and L consumed at least three boxes during her third trimesster and confinement months (about two months) despite using it sparingly (2-4 roots instead of a bunch during the third tri, and a bunch of about 10 roots during actual confinement).

Some of the more interesting buys include very expensive pao shen (泡参) and two mysterious packets (wrapped in pink paper) of herbs that (a) must be consumed on the fourth day after delivery and (b) must first call Anna/Peter before preparing it. Apparently this secret concoction will help restore the vaginal ‘elasticity’ of mummies who deliver naturally.

泡参

Given that I had another appointment to run off to that afternoon, I could not really go through every single herb I was advised to buy, as well as run through the confinement recipes she gave me. Think I will have to pay her a second visit just to run through the recipes and herbs in greater detail. After all I spent on the herbs, I really should make sure I know how to use them.

In the meantime, here is a list of commonly used Chinese herbs during confinement that W and I should probably familiarize ourselves with.

党参 Dang Shen

北芪 Bei Qi

龙眼干 Dried Longan

枸杞子 Wolfberry

红枣 Red Date

南枣 “Southern” Date (?)

冬虫夏草 Cordyceps or Caterpillar fungus

通草 Tong Cao

白芷 Bai Zhi

首乌 Shou Wu