Dried osmanthus flowers

Dried osmanthus flowers

　　Dried osmanthus flowers are a specialty of Guilin, Guangxi. This beautiful city is named after the osmanthus tree (and its blossoms). Within the urban area of Guilin, there are now about 200,000 osmanthus trees planted—Guilin, Guilin, where osmanthus trees form a forest; osmanthus, osmanthus, whose fragrance drifts to every household. By rivers and lakes, along streets and alleys, in front of mountains and behind houses, the graceful presence of osmanthus trees can truly be found everywhere.

　　Osmanthus flowers are not only pleasing in color and sweetly fragrant, but also highly nutritious and medicinally valuable. Research shows that per 100 grams of sugar-preserved osmanthus, there are 0.6g of protein, 0.1g of fat, 26.6g of carbohydrates, 63g of water, and 110 kilocalories of energy. They are also rich in vitamins, carotene, and trace elements, among which zinc is the most abundant, promoting human growth and development and enhancing the body’s disease resistance and immunity. Osmanthus is warm in nature and pungent in flavor, with effects such as invigorating the stomach, resolving phlegm, promoting fluid production, dispersing blood stasis, soothing the abdomen, relieving fatigue, clearing heat, and detoxifying. According to the *Compendium of Materia Medica*, osmanthus can “treat all kinds of illnesses, nourish the spirit, harmonize complexion, and serve as the foremost envoy among all herbs. Long-term consumption lightens the body, delays aging, brings luster to the face, and maintains beauty as if one were forever young.”