Sour

酸 suān, the sour flavour, is associated with the Wood and the Liver, restraining the outward movement of this element to stabilise and bind the unwanted leakage of fluids.

Schisandra (wu wei zi, Schisandra chinensis) stops excessive sweating and cough, sour plum (wu mei, Prunus mume) and pomegranate rind (shi liu pi, Punica granatum) stop diarrhoea, unripe raspberry (fu pen zi, Rubus idaeus) prevents incontinence, agrimony (xiang he cao, Agrimonia eupatoria) stops bleeding, and rosehips (jin ying zi, Rosa canina) are used to prevent leakage of sperm and vaginal discharge.

Sour herbs also gently nourish the yin and can be used to alleviate thirst, such as lemon (ning meng, Citrus limonum), schisandra, and sour plum.