Pork Blood and Red Date Soup，From *Proven Tea, Decoction, and Soup Recipes for Common Ailments*,Nourishes and replenishes blood; supplements iron. Suitable for iron-deficiency anemia caused by deficiency of both qi and blood, characterized by a pale or sallow complexion; lack of color in the lips, fingernails, and eyelid mucous membranes; fatigue and weakness; dizziness and palpitations; shortness of breath and reluctance to speak; a pale-red tongue with a swollen body and a thin coating; and a fine, weak pulse.
in the absence of frank deficiency, or where an excess or heat pattern prevails, indiscriminate warming tonic use is inadvisable; the tonifying-warming action may aggravate internal heat; avoid during feverish or inflammatory episodes
Commentary
Pork blood occupies the sovereign position; with neutral nature and sweet flavor, having Heart, Liver tropism, it nourishes blood and resolves toxicity and becomes the guiding principle of the whole formula. The ministerial support — jujubes (of warm nature and sweet flavor, entering the Spleen, Stomach, Heart, tonifies qi, nourishes blood and calms the spirit, and harmonizes the formula), and corn kernels (nature neutral, flavor sweet, channeled into the Spleen, Stomach, tonifies the spleen and harmonizes the middle) — reinforces the sovereign’s main effect and coordinates the drug strength. Together the herbs converge on this action, in accord with the qi-blood pattern.