Shen Qu Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Shen Qu (Massa Medicata Fermentata) is not a single plant but a fermented preparation of traditional Chinese pharmacy, a cake made from wheat flour and bran kneaded with the juices and pastes of several plants, among them sweet annual wormwood (Artemisia annua), cocklebur (Xanthium), water pepper (Persicaria hydropiper), apricot kernel and adzuki bean, so no one botanical family applies. The dough is shaped into blocks, left to ferment until covered in yellow mold, then dried and broken into lumps that are yellow-brown and crumbly with a faint sour smell. We extract the dried fermented mass.