Warming spices in TCM
In traditional Chinese thinking, ginger, cinnamon, pepper and fennel are classed as warming foods.
Also: TCM warming spices, yang foods, Chinese five flavours, xin
Traditional Chinese medicine groups foods by thermal nature, from cold to hot, and by five flavours, sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty. Pungent warming foods such as ginger, cinnamon bark (rougui), Sichuan pepper, fennel, clove and star anise are linked in tradition to the yang, to winter and to dispersing chill, and are cooked into winter soups, hotpots and tonics. Cooling foods such as mung beans, mint and chrysanthemum are favoured in summer. Chinese five-spice and medicinal soups reflect these ideas. As with Ayurveda and Unani, this is a cultural and historical framework for food, and not a substitute for medical advice.