Hu Jiao
English Name: black pepper
Pharmaceutical Name: Fructus Piper
Medica Category: Interior-Warming Herbs
Properties: Hu Jiao enters the Stomach and Large Intestine channels; it is acrid in nature and hot in temperature.
What is Hu Jiao?:
The Chinese Herb Hu Jiao in the dried fruit of a tropical vine native to southern India and Sri Lanka (but now cultivated around the world) called Piper nigrum—or black pepper.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapeutic Actions of Hu Jiao:
Hu Jiao disperses cold and warms the middle jiao to address nausea, vomiting, and abdominal and epigastric fullness and pain due to accumulated coldness. Interestingly, powdered Hu Jiao can also be applied topically (to the umbilicus) to warm the middle.