Three Legs Cooling Water

Cooling and heaty.

These are Asian concepts which the West is still skeptical about, but to us here in Malaysia, it is part of daily life as we hear, "don't eat too much watermelon. It's cooling" or "don't eat too much durian, it's heaty."

But, I have never heard about "cooling water" before until my maid told me about it. She said they drink "Air Badak" all the time in Indonesia, when they feel heaty or have a sore throat.

This is the Three Legs Cooling Water , which features the picture of a rhino on its lable, while its logo is that of, yep, three legs!

Out of curiosity, I bought this cooling water from the  Guardian pharmacy. It is not cheap - about RM3.80 for a 500 ml bottle.

It tastes just like water. After all, it is purified water. The label states that its main added ingredient is gypsum fibrosum.

Gypsum fibrosum is a mineral, and used in TCM  (traditional Chinese medicine) to, among others, clear excess heat in the lungs and to treat inflammation of the gums, diabetes, high fevers, excessive thirst, headaches, toothaches, nose bleeds, coughing, and wheezing. Apart from its medicinal uses, it is also a substance found in plaster, plaster of Paris, blackboard chalk, and historically as a wood substitute in the ancient world.

Is it effective?

It did help alleviate my husband's sore throat. My maid said she was feeling heaty, with this hot wet and wild weather we are having, and drank a bottle. She felt fine after that. The kids tried it for fun.

I have a couple of bottles handy at the moment. It's faster than having to boil my own barley drink or pak chee cho.