As some of you may know, I welcomed a baby girl into the world a few days ago. Right before entering the delivery room, I repeatedly instructed the nurses and midwives to save the placenta for me — and so I came home with a steaming bag of meat.
Honestly, I never imagined this thing could be so large. It’s hard to believe there was room for it in there.
Due to hospital restrictions, only one person could stay as a companion, so this mysterious lump of flesh had to go into the refrigerator to “cool down” first.
Personally, I have no objection to using animal- and human-derived medicinal substances. Looking back, the products I’ve used most over the past few years would be turtle and deer preparations. During my studies in Hangzhou, I accumulated considerable experience using tortoise shell and turtle shell. After moving to Beijing, I witnessed the power of veteran practitioners working with deer antler and deer horn. Human-derived medicines have also seen increasing use in recent years. Before the pandemic, there were quite a lot of asthma patients, and Kanqi (processed placenta) and Zihe Che frequently appeared in prescriptions. The Heche Dazao Wan (Placenta Reconstitution Pill) was also remarkably effective. As the baby boom has faded, infertility cases have become increasingly complex and difficult to treat, and Zihe Che’s status remains unmatched.
Some younger colleagues suggested I just chop it up and make dumplings — but my courage simply wouldn’t support that. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to swallow it…
So I turned to the classical processing methods. Here is what historical texts from various dynasties recorded:
“Take a plump, healthy specimen, wash it clean, remove the purple veins and cut into small pieces. Add two bowls of children’s urine, place in a lead vessel, and boil thoroughly in a double boiler for a full day and night until it forms a paste, then pound into a fine paste. In folk tradition, there is a practice of burying it underground until it transforms into a clear spring — this is called Heche Shui (Placenta Water).”
— Leigong Paozhi Yaoxing Jie (Master Lei’s Explanation of Drug Processing)
“Place in running water and wash away the fascia. Alternatively, bake on new roof tiles until it shrinks and forms lumps. Lay two new tiles face-up and face-down to contain it, secure tightly with iron wire, seal firmly with salt clay, and set low over the stove. Bake with a slow fire, turning it occasionally to prevent scorching. From Chen hour (7–9 AM) to Shen hour (3–5 PM), it will gradually dry and shrink into lumps. Or steam thoroughly in a sealed steamer and pound into paste. Use a small, tightly-lidded steamer and steam for a full day and night until thoroughly soft, then pound into paste. The lumps can be stored for long periods and ground into powder for medicinal use; the paste should be used immediately and mixed with honey to form pills.”
— Benzeng Mengquan
“Wash with clean water until pure white, boil in a lead kettle using a double boiler until extremely tender, and use the liquid together with the solid as medicine. Alternatively, boil briefly and dry-bake over a slow fire. If it contains fetal toxins that could harm the patient, it must be tested with a silver implement.”
— Benco Fenjing (Classified Materia Medica)
“Wu Qiu said: In ancient times, Zihe Che was not differentiated by gender. In modern times, males use male placentas and females use female placentas; some say that when a man is ill, use a female placenta, and vice versa. The first-born is best, but the placenta of a healthy, disease-free woman from a subsequent birth is also acceptable. Once obtained, wash it in clean rice water, place in a bamboo vessel, and rinse away the fascia in a long-running stream. Then wash with frankincense wine, place in a bamboo basket, dry, and grind into powder. Some bake it on tiles and grind, boil it in wine and mash it, or steam it in a steamer, pound it, and sun-dry it — but steaming is best. Dong Bingyun said: Nowadays, people all boil and remove the fascia — this is a great mistake. Fire-roasting and water-boiling cause most of one’s offspring to be infertile; only steaming, pounding, and mixing with medicine is the best approach. The fascia is the initial condensation of true qi and must not be removed.”
— Bencoo Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica)
Due to various factors in modern times, Zihe Che was removed from the Chinese Pharmacopoeia after 2015. Earlier reference materials include:
“Remove the amniotic membrane and umbilical cord from the fresh placenta, rinse repeatedly until all blood is removed, steam briefly or parboil, then dry.”
— Chinese Pharmacopoeia, 2010 Edition, Vol. 1
“Remove the amniotic membrane and umbilical cord from the fresh placenta, rinse repeatedly until all blood is removed, add an appropriate amount of Sichuan peppercorns and yellow rice wine, or parboil briefly, then dry. The best medicinal material is complete, yellow in color, with no residual blood in the blood vessels.”
— National Standards for Processing of Traditional Chinese Medicines, 1988 Edition
My plan was relatively simple: first wash and soak in water, then steam with Sichuan peppercorns and yellow rice wine, and finally dry at low temperature and grind into powder.
The washing and soaking process is very difficult to describe. When poured out after thawing, there was nothing particularly strange about it. But the moment it went into the water, the smell of blood hit me like a wall. This odor was extremely hard to accept. As many of you know, I’m the family chef. When I was a kid, there was a mutton soup restaurant on the way to school, and I’d often see live sheep being slaughtered at noon — I never found it disturbing, and I certainly wouldn’t have dared to study medicine otherwise. But this smell was genuinely discomforting, even inducing a mild sense of panic. This blood smell was different from pork, lamb, beef, chicken, pigeon, duck, goose, dog, fish, shrimp, or turtle. Those meats all carry more or less the natural scent of the animal, which is easy to identify. This, however, was the authentic smell of blood — what one might call the “scent of humanity.” It lingered on my hands for a long time, and in that moment I suddenly understood what certain true-crime writers were trying to convey.
Classical texts instruct us to wash it in “long-flowing water” — a continuously running stream. They’re right: there is an enormous amount of blood. No matter how much you wash, it never seems fully clean. At home, it’s very hard to achieve thorough washing. It’s not just residual blood on the surface — there’s blood trapped inside as well. Moreover, mine had been frozen, and the blood had formed clots, making it nearly impossible to clean completely.
I really don’t understand why the ancients recommended washing it in a river. Sure, river water is excellent running water — but aren’t there fish in rivers? Wouldn’t small animals come and eat it? What about parasites? It doesn’t seem like a wise choice.
As for using a silver needle to extract the “purple veins” — this essentially means pulling out the blood vessels, which is really about draining all the blood. With a fresh placenta, this might be easier to manage, but once the vessels are removed, the whole thing loses its shape. Personally, I feel that this blood is also part of the primordial chaos. What flows out freely belongs to the postnatal realm and can be discarded. What stubbornly remains — well, leave it be. After all, we follow the doctrine of the mean.
How long did I soak it? Nearly 12 hours, with repeated rinsing — basically every half hour. Later, when I saw how much blood was still coming out, I started kneading, squeezing, and soaking it. The experience defies description. When I finally felt it was good enough, the front appeared mostly free of visible blood residue (though in truth there was still some inside, which would surface upon heating). The blood vessels on the back, even after I cut them open and washed repeatedly, could not be thoroughly cleaned. I weighed it: 725 grams.
After washing, I placed it in a basin and added three-year-aged Huadiao wine — about 400ml, roughly level with the placenta — then added more water to cover the surface. I threw in a small handful of Sichuan peppercorns and steamed it directly over high heat for exactly 49 minutes. When I took it out, the flat disc had shrunk into a ball. Scooped out and weighed: 202.5 grams.
The next step was drying. I used a food dehydrator I’d bought a few years ago (originally for making dried fruit treats for our rabbit), set to maximum — 70°C constant temperature. This was a long process. The Zihe Che darkened at a visible rate. Of course, the ancients didn’t have great eyesight, so they might have called it “turning purple.” Since the process was lengthy, I generally checked it once during the day and once at night. After drying overnight, it weighed 109.3 grams the next morning, 74 grams that evening, 61.2 grams the following morning, 56 grams that night, and 55.7 grams on the fourth morning — which should be dry enough.
In the end, I got a Zihe Che that looked purplish-black, umbrella-shaped, with a yellowish hue tinged with black — the black distributed unevenly. It felt heavy in the hand, with a very crisp, dry texture. It smelled like jerky — just thinking about it makes me nauseous. Overall, it looked quite different from the commercial medicinal slices available in pharmacies. Pharmacy Zihe Che isn’t black — it’s relatively white, sometimes yellowish. This could be a difference in processing technique, or it could be “technology and ruthlessness” (i.e., chemical bleaching). I analyzed four main factors:
1. I didn’t wash it thoroughly enough and didn’t skim the foam. Combined with the freezing, some internal blood rose to the surface during heating, and the unremoved foam adhered to the surface — all contributing to the darkening.
2. I added yellow rice wine during steaming. Yellow rice wine contains caramel color, which is likely the main reason for the overall dark coloration.
3. Drying accelerated oxidation. My drying time was too long; more advanced drying equipment might control this better.
4. Commercial medicinal slices may still retain the traditional bleaching process — namely, sulfur fumigation, as is widely known.
The Zihe Che processing was complete. Making it myself gives me peace of mind. The next step is grinding it into powder and filling capsules.
Now that I’ve written this far, I’ve decided to share some educational background on this medicine.
First — why is it called Zihe Che (Purple River Carriage)? The ancients had a remarkably mystical understanding: “Before heaven and earth, the ancestor of yin and yang, the bellows of qian and kun, the framework of lead and mercury — when the embryo first stirs and the nine-by-nine number is complete, I ride upon it and am carried forth, and so it is called the River Carriage. Its color may be red, green, or purple; the purple is considered the finest.”
What does this mean? Before a person’s soul incarnates into human form, it rides in a carriage that wanders between heaven and earth. The human body is a microcosm; heaven and earth are the macrocosm. Within the human body there are true yin, true yang, and the Ren and Du vessels; between heaven and earth there are also true yin, true yang, and the Ren and Du vessels. As essence and qi circulate along these vessels, all things are generated. Before human form is achieved, what carries the essence and qi in their circulation is the “River Carriage.” After human form is achieved, the essence and qi transform into the true qi of the kidneys, carrying the blood and qi of the body. Thus, what the ancients called the spiritual practices of “Five Qi Returning to the Origin” and “Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown” are really about continuously circulating this true qi — essentially, cultivating the River Carriage.
From this, we can deduce that Zihe Che is a mass of primordial chaos, containing a person’s congenital essence and qi. Therefore it can supplement the congenital, treat various deficiency-exhaustion patterns, and address root-level problems. Think of it as comparable to what Western medicine calls “cord blood” or “stem cells.”
So some might ask: if I eat some regularly, wouldn’t I become immune to all diseases and live forever? Two words: dream on.
中文原文 / Chinese Original
众所周知，鄙人在若干天前得了一枚小棉袄，临进产房时我再三叮嘱护士和助产士一定要把胎盘给我，于是乎得到了一袋热气腾腾的肉。
说实话，我从来没想到这玩意可以那么大，肚子里居然还有地放得下。
由于口罩的原因，医院里只能有一人陪护，这一团混沌就只能先放到冰箱里去”退火”了。
我个人是不排斥使用血肉有情之品的，细细算来这几年用的最多的应该是龟鹿制品，在杭州学习的时候积累了很多龟板和鳖甲的使用经验，来帝都后见识了大师们用鹿茸鹿角的威力。人制品这两年用的也逐渐增多，没戴口罩前哮喘人群还是相当多的，坎炁、紫河车经常出现在处方中，河车大造丸效果也相当不错，随着生育大潮的褪去，越来越多的不孕不育人群都属于疑难杂症，紫河车的地位无人能及。
有小同志劝我直接剁了包饺子算了，但是胆气不支持我这么做，肯定是咽不下去的。。。。
于是我就学习了一下古法炮制过程，历代古籍是这么记载的：
取肥壮者洗净，抽去紫筋切碎，入童便二碗，入铅瓶重汤煮烂，一昼夜方开，杵成膏用。世俗有埋地日久化作清泉者，此名河车水。《雷公炮制药性解》
入急水中，洗净筋膜。或新瓦烘皱成块，新瓦二片，仰覆盖盛，铁线扎牢，盐泥固密，低驾垆上，文火烘之，时或倒颠，免致焦黑，从辰至申，自渐干皱成块也。或密甑蒸烂杵膏。小甑栉密，蒸一昼夜才得糜烂，杵膏。块者可久留，研末入剂；膏者须即用，搀蜜为丸。《本草蒙筌》
清水洗至净白，用铅壶隔汤煮极烂，连汁入药。或煮略熟文火焙干用，有胎毒者伤人，须以银器试之。《本草分经》
吴球曰︰紫河车，古方不分男女。近世男用男，女用女；一云男病用女，女病用男。初生者为佳，次则健壮无病妇人者亦可。取得，以清米泔摆净，竹器盛，于长流水中洗去筋膜，再以乳香酒洗过，篾笼盛之，烘干研末。亦有瓦焙研者、酒煮捣烂者、甑蒸捣晒者，以蒸者为佳。董炳云︰今人皆酒煮火焙及去筋膜，大误矣。火焙水煮，其子多不育，惟蒸捣和药最良。筋膜乃初结真气，不可剔去也。《本草纲目》
现代由于各种因素，紫河车在2015年后被踢出药典，早期参考资料如下：
将新鲜胎盘除去羊膜和脐带，反复冲洗至去净血液，蒸或置沸水中略煮后，干燥。《中国药典》2010年版一部
将新鲜胎盘除去羊膜及脐带，反复冲洗至去尽血液，加适量花椒、黄酒或置沸水中略煮后，干燥。药材以完整、色黄，血管内无残血者为佳。《全国中药炮制规范》1988版
我的方案就比较简单了，清水先洗再泡，然后用花椒黄酒蒸，最后低温烘干，打碎。
洗和泡的过程是非常难以描述的，化冻后刚倒出来并没有什么很异样的感觉，但是一放到水中，血腥味立刻扑鼻而来，这个味道让人非常难以接受。众所周知我是掌勺大厨，小时候上学路上有个羊汤馆，中午经常能看到现宰活羊，我都不觉得有啥难以接受的地方，要不怎么敢去学医呢，但是这个味道明显让人感到不适，甚至有些心慌。这个血腥味和猪肉羊肉牛肉鸡肉鸽子肉鸭肉鹅肉狗肉鱼肉虾肉鳖肉皆不同，那些肉味或多或少都有些动物本来的味道，很容易分辨，而这个味道就是地地道道的血腥味，应该就是所谓的人味。这个味在手上残留的时间很久，所以我当时突然就非常能理解一些刑事案件纪实文学想表达的东西。
古书记载要用长流水清洗，没错，这个血水非常的多，怎么洗都洗不干净，在家里很难达到洗净的效果。它不仅仅是表面的血液残留，还有很多内部的血液，况且我这个是冻过的，已经结成了血栓，基本上很难完全清洗干净。
我对古人所说的要放到河里去清洗非常不理解，诚然河水是非常好的长流水，但是河里没有鱼么？不会有什么小动物来吃？不会有寄生虫？这不是个好选择。
再说用银针抽去紫筋，这应该就是把血管抽出，其实就是把血液放净，新鲜的河车可能比较好操作，但是挑去之后整体就不是很成型，而且我个人觉得这个血应该也属于混沌的一部分，能流出的属于后天，弃之，非常顽固的就留着他吧，毕竟咱是中庸之道。
我泡了多长时间呢，接近12个小时，反复冲洗，基本上每半小时就去冲洗一次。到后来我看怎么还有那么多，就开始揉搓挤压浸泡，个中滋味难以表述。最后我感觉差不多了，正面基本上看不出血液残留（其实里面还有，一加热就出来了），背面的血管我割开之后反复洗也无法彻底洗净，上秤一称，725克。
洗完后放入盆中，加3年陈花雕酒，大约加了400ml，大致与河车齐平，然后又加了一些水，没过河车表面，再放入一小把花椒，直接带气上锅蒸，大火蒸煮七七49分钟，蒸完之后取出，发现成一个盘缩成了一个球，捞出称重202.5克。
下一步就是烘干了，放入前几年买的给兔子做水果干的烘干机，开最大档，70℃恒温烘干，这是一个漫长的过程，紫河车以肉眼可见的速度变黑，当然古人眼神不好，也可以称之为变紫。由于这个过程应该比较漫长，我基本上是白天看一次，晚上看一次，经过一夜的烘干，第二天早上称重109.3克，晚上变成74克，第三天早上61.2克，晚上56克，第四天早上55.7克，这应该是足够干燥了。
最终，得到了一个看上去紫黑紫黑的紫河车，成伞状，颜色黄里透黑，黑色分布不是很均匀，拿起来感觉沉甸甸的，质地非常干脆，闻起来一股子烤肉干味，想一想就很反胃，总体跟现行饮片性状看起来有一些差距。药房里的紫河车不黑，比较白，有些会发黄，这可能是工艺的问题，也可能是科技与狠活。我分析了一下主要应该与一下四个因素有关：
1.我没彻底洗干净，也没有去浮沫，而且经过冷冻，有些内在的血液经加热后会泛到表面，浮沫不去除会附着在表面，这都是颜色变黑的原因。
2.在蒸制的过程中加入了黄酒，黄酒里面有焦糖色，这个色素应该是整体颜色发暗的主要原因。
3.烘干加速了氧化，我的烘干时间过长，高级烘干设备可能会控制的更好。
4.市售饮片可能仍然保留了熏白工艺，也就是大家熟知的硫磺熏。
紫河车炮制过程结束，自己做的还是比较放心，下一步就是打粉灌胶囊了。
都写到这了，我决定来科普一下这个药。
首先，为什么叫紫河车？古人的认识非常玄妙：天地之先，阴阳之祖，乾坤之橐龠，铅汞之匡廓，胚胎将兆，九九数足，我则乘而载之，故谓之河车。其色有红、有绿、有紫，以紫者为良。什么意思呢，人（的灵魂）在投胎化生人形之前，是要乘着一辆车在天地间游走的，人是一个小宇宙，天地是一个大宇宙，人体内有真阴真阳任督二脉，天地间也有真阴真阳任督二脉，精炁在这条任督二脉上不断地行走，就能化生万物，在未成人形之前，承载精炁运行的就是河车，化成人形之后，精炁化为肾之真气，承载着人体的气血运行。所以古人修炼所谓”五气朝元”、”三花聚顶”就是不断地搬运这股真气，实质上就是修炼河车。
由此，我们可以推知，紫河车就是一团混沌，内藏人的先天精气，故可以补先天，治疗各类虚劳证，能够解决根本问题，可以参照西医所谓的”脐带血”、”干细胞”的功能。
那么就有人说了，没事吃点岂不是可以百病不生延年益寿，送上两个字：做梦。
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