I found this on one of the site that tanibani posted about. Thanks Tanibani, BTW. I think I will prepare my placenta in this way, it makes sense to me to steam it a bit before dehydrating it. This is the site,
http://www.geocities.com/virtualbirth/placenta.html And this is what I read in there....
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Traditional Chinese Medicine Placenta Preparation
by Janneli ******, Midwife
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, placenta is considered a powerful and sacred medicine, full of life force. Raven Lang, a midwife who studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, advises the use of placenta during the postpartum course to aid in recovery from childbirth. After the placenta is prepared it is taken in capsule form, 2 capsules at a time, with white wine. The wine is said to help disperse the energy of the placenta throughout the body. Women can take this dose up to three times a day, and continue until they no longer feel a need. Remaining placenta can be saved and used homeopathically for those times when the child undergoes a separation from the mother. For example, when first learning to walk, or when weaning, or when going off ory is made from qi and blood, human placenta used to augment qi and blood will help augment lactation.
I first heard of making placenta into medicine from Raven Lang at a MANA convention in 1984. I have been making it for all my clients since. I do it as a routine, and have only had one client not want it. For all you who are
ROFL right now, let me say that the placenta is prepared into a powder and encapsulated, so it's not so undesirable. To prepare, it must be cooked. Cooking in TCM is an integral part of the formation and action of the medicine. Raw is generally considered cooling, so raw placenta is cooling, and I wouldn't recommend it as a general rule. Also, none of the actions of human placenta as I am describing it can be attributed to the raw placenta. Cooking it is part of making it what it is. To cook, wash excess blood from the placenta. Place it in a steamer over water. Place with it fresh ginger slices, half a lemon and a hot pepper. Steam for 15 minutes, turn, and steam 15 more minutes until no juice comes out when pricked with a fork. (Steam over low heat, it has a tendency to boil over and that's a mess.) The membranes and cord may be cooked with the placenta. It is helpful to turn the placenta to "Schultz," i.e., wrapped inside the membrane when you cook it. It will shrink tremendously, and wrapped in the membranes makes it easy to deal with for the next step. After steaming, slice the placenta in 1/8" strips, similar to making jerky. Slice
as thin as possible. Place the strips on a cookie sheet (over aluminum foil if you're squeamish) and place it in an oven on the lowest possible setting for several hours until completely brittle-dry. (Again like jerky) Using a food
dehydrator is even better, but will take longer. Powder the strips in a coffee grinder, and encapsulate. I advise clients to take two capsules three times a day for two weeks postpartum. It can be kept indefinitely, but is best kept in a freezer long term (like any meat to school or daycare.
I have been preparing and giving placenta to women for 10 years. It is not recommended for everyone, but women who do want to take it have reported that they **do not have trouble with postpartum depression** and seem to heal quickly from any trauma experienced because of birth.While it is difficult to say that the placenta is responsible, there are physiological reasons that may be at work. The placenta is full of natural oxytocins which are responsible for contracting the uterus and minimizing postpartum bleeding. Also it contains hormones which have recently been shown to help in the relief of postpartum depression. Women who use placenta have said it makes them feel nurtured. It takes about 12-16 hours to prepare the placenta according to the recipe advocated by Raven Lang.
The preparation is not difficult but Raven noted that one must keep in mind the powerful and sacred nature of the organ you are working with at all times. I am honored to do this work and enjoy preparing the placentas for homebirth women. If you choose to prepare it yourself, the recipe follows.
Gently rinse the fresh placenta (it must not have been frozen, the fresher the better), keeping as much blood as possible. Steam the placenta for 15 minutes, then turn it over and steam for 15 more minutes. In the steaming water you must put a jalapeño pepper, some fresh ginger root and a slice of lime. When the placenta is finished steaming
slice it into thin strips and place these in a dehydrator or your oven at its lowest temperature. Dry the strips until they are completely dry, they should snap. This generally takes about 8 to 10 hours. Your house will smell like placenta (women like this smell but men generally find it unpleasant). When the slices are completely dry, break them up into smaller chunks and then grind them into a fine powder. Raven noted that any energy you have while
working with the placenta will be absorbed into the medicine, so please keep yourself centered. This also applies to your mode of grinding-if you use a blender or electric grinder your placenta will have "blender energy" (direct quote from Raven!). A mortar and pestle can be used or a hand grinder. Raven said you can also put the pieces in a paper bag and pound with a rock. When you have powdered the placenta keep it in a cool dark place in a glass jar tightly capped. It will keep indefinitely this way.
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