본초학(本草學) - 민들레 커피 포공영

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당신수본초(唐新修本草)에 보면 포공영은 약초라고 기록되어 있다. 그러나 이 시진의 저서 본초강목의 초부(草部)에 보면 포공영을
찾을 수 없다. 왜냐하면 이 시진은 포공영을 초부에서 채부(菜部)로 옮겨 놓았기 때문이다. 포공영은 정확히 말해서 일종의 야채이다
. 명 태조 주 원장(朱元璋)의 다섯째 아들 주숙(朱肅)은 백성들의 생활에 관심이 많았다. 주숙은 흉년이 들어 먹을 것이 없을때 백성들이 어떻게 기근을 면할수 있을까? 늘 생각한 끝에 산과 들에서 자라는 사람이 먹을수 있는 414 종의 초목을 1406 년에 자신이 저술한 구황본초(救荒本草)에 수록해 놓았다. 그중 276 종은 그 당시 본초서에 수록되지 않은 새로운 식물이다.

구황본초에 보면 "우이춘일상미추정개화자(優以春日尙未抽 정開花者), 십분유눈(十分柔嫩), 가이반(可以拌),창(창),초채당채흘(炒菜當菜吃), 차시고미야한소(此時苦味也汗少)." 라고 기록되어 있다.
다시 말하면 "특히 봄철에 민들레의 꽃이 아직 피지 않았을 때 민들레의 줄기와 잎은 매우 여리고 보드라워 날로 양념과 버무려 먹
거나 뜨거운 물에 데쳐서 무쳐 먹거나 기름에 볶아서 반찬으로 먹을 수 있다. 이때는 민들레의 쓴맛이 가장 적은 때이다." 는 뜻이다

포공영은 반찬으로 만들어 먹을수도 있고 물과 함께 끓여 약즙을 만들어 먹어도 좋다. 또 쌀과 섞어 죽을 쑤어 먹어도 된다. 모두 청
열해독작용이 있다. 죽에 대해서 더 자세한 것을 알고 싶으면 약죽요법에 상세하게 기록되어 있으니 참고하기 바란다.
그외 포공영은 커피대용으로 사용할 수 있는데 아메리칸 인디언이 처음으로 마시기 시작했다. 인디언들은 포공영의 뿌리를 난로위에 얹어서 바삭바삭하게 말린 다음 가루내어 끓는물과 섞어 음료로 사용한다.

유럽에서 미국에 유학 온 유학생들이 본국에 돌아가 아메리칸 인디언들 한테 배운 포공영 뿌리로 만든 커피를 마시기 시작했다. 포
공영 뿌리로 만든 커피는 흥분작용은 있지만 카페인 성분이 없으므로 미국의 대부분 건강식품점에서 포공영 뿌리로 만든 가루는 잘
팔리고있다. 보통 1 파운드 당 시중가격이 미화 80 여불을 웃돌고 있다.

"건강에 이로운 약초" 라는 잡지에 소개된 포공영에 대한 기사를 아래에 전재(轉載)한다.
포공영 뿌리로 만든 커피는 담석(膽石) 형성을 방지해주고 간염과 황달의 치료에도 일정한 효과가 있다. 왜냐하면 포공영속에는 이눌린(Inulin)이란 성분이 포함되어 있어 간의 작용에 유익을 주기 때문이다.

1990 년 대에 포공영 뿌리로 만든 커피를 일본에서 더욱 개발연구하여 건강음료를 만드는데 성공하였다. 심지어 일본내의 고급 다방
에서 인기있는 건강음료가 되었다. 그뿐만 아니라 일본에서는 포공영 사탕, 포공영 떡등이 인기있는 보건식품으로 호평을 받고있다.
포공영과 쌀가루나 밀가루를 섞어 포공영 떡과 포공영 빵을 만들어 시중에서 팔고 있다.

중국 하남성 주마점(駐馬店) 커피공장에서는 당지에서 생산되는 엄청난 포공영을 수확하여 커피콩(Coffee bean)과 혼합한 포공영커피를 만들어 보건식품으로써 판매중이다

Why this herb was named Po Gong Young. Once upon a time there was a 16-year-old daughter of a Chinese gover
nment official in ancient China whose name was Gong Young. She was a clever and beautiful girl in her town. One day she was suffering from mastitis with a triangular lump underneath her left breast. She was in terrible pain and was becoming very worried, but she dared not to tell anybody about it, because deep down inside she felt very ashame
d. But her disease was subsquently found out by her housemaid, who told it to her father, pleading with him to call a doctor. On inquiry into his daughter's disease, the official became very angry, as he suspected that his daughter must have done something immoral to have caused it.
He rushed to his daughter's room and began to beat her in the face. And he shouted "How could you do such a
shameful thing, you are a disgrace to your family." The maid insisted that his daughter had never gone out alone during nighttime and could not have possibly done anything immoral.
The father would not listen, and so the daughter ran away from home that night out of shame and desperation. She
went to the riverside and thinking that no one would be around at that hour to see her, she covered her face with
her long skirt and quickly jumped into the river in an attempt to commit suicide.
However, a fisherman whose last name was Gong, was fishing from a little rowboat nearby with his 16-year-old
daughter. When they heard the splash, the fisherman's daughter instantly jumped into the river to save her. Once they were both on board, the fisherman was suprised to see that the girl was just about the same age as his daughter.
The fisherman's daughter began to change the girl's clothes, and in the process, she discovered the swelling in the
young girl's left breast. At that moment she immediately understood the reason for her attempted suicide. After tellingher father about it, the fisferman replied " We will go to the field to dig out some plants for her breast first thing in the tomorrow morning." The plant turned out to be a perennial herb, with white milky juice in it, yellowish flowers and straight but fleshy and thick roots.
No one knows　the name of the plant. They found the plants on the roadside not far from the river. They dug out a f
ew plants that were about 100g in weight. And they washed them clean and boiled them in water. Then they told the girl to drink the liquid. In the meantime they crushed some of the plants and applied them to her left breast externally.

Upon hearing of the whereabouts and the attempted suicide of their daughter, the government official and his wife, feeling greatly worried and deeply regretful, rushed to see the fisherman and to take their daughter home. Their
daughter, grateful and in tears, said good-bye to the fisherman and his daughter and went home with her parents, bringing a bunch of the plants with her.
Before she left the fisherman kept reminding her to continue using the herbs for her disease. after she had recovered from her disease she told her maid to plant the herb in their garden. So that she would always remember the fisherman she named the plant after him without knowing his first name.