Bitter orange, the fruit that has hollowed into a shell

Zhi Ke, also read Zhi Qiao, means “the shell of the zhi”, the bitter orange tree. The name only makes sense in contrast to that of its younger sibling, Zhi Shi, “the solid zhi”: the young fruit is dense and solid, while the nearly ripe fruit has hollowed into a shell. It is picked in July, still green, cut in half crosswise and dried: this gives half-spheres with a rind granular with oil glands, yellowish-white flesh and a clean citrus scent. Its benchmark origins are Jiangxi and the Chongqing and Sichuan region. Here, it is roasted with wheat bran, the usual form called for by most classical formulas.

Regulating Qi and broadening the Middle

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, bitter orange is bitter, pungent and sour, and slightly cool. Bitterness makes things descend, pungency spreads and sets in motion: together, they restore Qi to its normal direction, which is downwards in the Middle Burner. Its coolness is its rare trait: most plants that move Qi are warm and drying, whereas it sets Qi in motion without adding Heat. Associated with the Spleen, Stomach, Large Intestine and Lung, it addresses Qi stalled in the chest, under the ribs and in the upper abdomen: what had tightened relaxes, and what stagnates resumes its path.

The ripe fruit, gentler than the green fruit

The same tree gives the green fruit, Zhi Shi, brisk and fast, which breaks up knotted Qi downwards. The nearly ripe fruit is measured and gradual: it regulates Qi rather than forcing it, and suits moderate stagnation in a more delicate person. Roasting with wheat bran brings its coolness further towards neutral and softens its strength: it spares the Stomach, strengthens the Spleen better and harmonises the Middle Burner. With tangerine peel, warm and aromatic, it covers the whole Middle Burner.