Witnessed by: TCM
Pig skin (Sus scrofa domesticus), of the Suidae (Mammalia) family. The domestic pig; the drug is its skin; native range: gathered wherever pigs are slaughtered. Globally recognized as zhu fu (豬膚) in Chinese, and pig skin, pork rind in English. The part used is the skin (rind, scraped free of fat and bristle). A tough, pale, rubbery hide, smooth on one face and fibrous on the other, dissolving with long simmering into a bland, sweetish, sticky gelatine that sets clear on cooling.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
PIG SKIN
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- pig skin
- Scientific name
- Sus scrofa domesticus Erxleben, 1777
- Family
- Suidae (Mammalia)
Form
- Part used
- the skin (rind, scraped free of fat and bristle)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet (甘)
Temperature
- TCM
- cool (涼)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Kidney
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- nourishes yin, clears heat, and moistens dryness and eases the throat
Cautions
- Contraindications
- damp-phlegm and cold, weak digestion, where the gelatinous richness is cloying
- Toxicity
- none as a food; heavy and hard on a weak spleen
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