Dit Da Secrets Episode 3

4 Lingering Myths

It is not easy to be a supplier of true, authentic, traditional Dit Da Jow. It is in fact, quite a feat that requires not only knowledge and experience, but organization, discipline, and attention to detail in order to maintain quality, consistency, and integrity of the ready-to-use medicine. This is true when providing a single formula on an ongoing basis, but becomes exponentially more complex when dealing with a variety of formulas, as well as other herbal modalities such as elixirs, tinctures, etc. This is the reason that Shen Martial Arts does not offer herb packs for making your own at home.

Interestingly, we were one of the first to provide herb kits and did this for years before deciding to stop. Our goals in offering herb kits were; 1) to promote the art of Dit Da Ke and stimulate beginning herbalist.; 2) To help make herbs accessible. Chinese Herbs were not as widely available back then and by providing herb packs, Shen filled a gap, and; 3) Herb packs kept cost lower for users, which has always been a concern for Shen Martial Arts.

With these positive benefits, why did we discontinue herb packs? Although our herb packs were assembled precisely, and we provided detailed steps, errors and variation by users reduced the quality and consistency of their resulting dit da jow.  At that time, more and more information was appearing online about making dit da jow, unfortunately much of it inaccurate. It was the wild west of dit da jow, with many posting theories, opinions, and misconceptions. Over the years, these ideas were copied, posted, re posted and regurgitated over and over until some of these became myths. Here are 4 myths that still linger today:   

Myth #1: Use the Strongest Alcohol %

100% grain alcohol, surgical alcohol, Ethanol, or Isopropyl Alcohol.  The assumption was that the stronger alcohol extracts more from the herbs. Alcohol is an ingredient of the formula, not just a base. It extracts the essence of the herbs by the relative heat it exudes. There are many herbs that are sensitive to too much heat and will literally burn if exposed to very strong alcohol or too hot of a flame. Too little heat or too much heat will both lower the effectiveness of the overall formula. If using pure, undiluted 100% alcohol, the formula may be rendered completely ineffective. The correct concentration alcohol, made with the correct alcohol base, will slowly extract the most from herbs without harming them. This is where aging time comes into play.

Even if lowering the concentration by mixing with distilled water like some do, this only adds another step to the process and another opportunity for error and for your batches to vary from one to another.

The opposite approach is also used by some, by using Alcohol that is too low in concentration. If too low, some herbs will not extract and others will extract but not fully, even after 20 years of aging!

Using the correct range of alcohol concentration derived from the correct source will ensure the best herb extraction and the dit da jow will get better the longer it ages.

 

Myth #2: Larger Herb Amount / Less Alcohol Quantity

The concept here is that the higher the herb to alcohol ratio is, the better/stronger the dit da jow will be. This idea was promoted by inexperienced dit da jow sellers using larger sized herb packs as a marketing ploy and by sellers that could not keep a good aging sequence such that when they ran out of a batch, they could put a new on out faster. Since the jow appears dark sooner when using a larger quantity of herbs, the assumption was that the jow was ready with shorter aging.

The herb to alcohol ratios for optimal dit da jow must be precise, as the formula requires. Higher herb quantity or lesser base amount tampers with this precision and will significantly alter the formula. Add to that less aging time and the result is vastly inferior. In addition, some less than scrupulous sellers began adding extra herbs not part of the recipe, solely to make the solution darker and appear “stronger”.

Think of your favorite soup or stew. The recipe may call for salt or garlic for the best taste. Will putting twice or 3x the amount of it better? When it comes to herbology and dit da jow, more is not better. Precise is best. Stay true to Mama's recipe and you will always get the best stew.

 

Myth #3: Apply Heat to the Mix

Similar to using more herb quantity, less alcohol or adding unrelated herbs to darken the dit da jow, some sellers mix the herbs with alcohol and then heat the mixture. Like using high concentration alcohol, this damages many herbs, only this method requires a heat source and can be dangerous by rising, spilling or catching fire. Please note, there are some formulas that contain herbs that need to be decocted over fire. These herbs will be hard, like stones or minerals. Still, this is done separately and the decocted liquid is then mixed with the alcohol extracted parts. More often however, this method is used to put out dit da jow quickly without having to age as long.

Myth #4: Murky Liquid and Sediment

In the early days, I spent quite a bit of time countering the wrongful belief that murky dit da jow  or bottles with herbal sediment were an indication of good dit da jow. As with the other myths, this one is advantageous when your aging sequence is off and there is a need to bottle quickly and avoid lengthy periods of aging. By including some floating matter in each user bottle. Shaking the bottle made for murky, thick looking liquid. Letting the bottle sit, would create a layer of herbal sediment at the bottom.

At Shen, our traditional lineage method calls for special filtering of our jow to eliminate any floating matter, which is just spent herb debris. This debris can actually cause skin irritation.  Our method results in a clean, smooth, silky liniment which is easier to absorb through the skin and which carries the maximum of dissolved herb essence.

Unfortunately, this misinformation has been taught and learned, propagated over years and become cemented in the methods and beliefs of some practitioners. These same practitioners will now defend these myths as real and justify their use, as opposed to continuing to learn and improve their results, help elevate the reputation and promoting the spread of dit da ke . Worse, there are those who do not care either way, and whose main objective is to benefit financially and will promote these myths as true for the convenience of not having to toil with the discipline, organization and precision that traditional methods require and to obtain higher returns on less effort.

Shen Martial Arts is committed to continue learning, to keeping the old methods alive, and to promoting the use and understanding of this wonderful herbal wisdom for the benefit of all.