Gaozuban means ox tongue, for the rough grey-green leaf; in English it is borage, and in Unani pharmacy it is the first name mentioned when the heart is under strain. Its distilled water is faintly herbaceous, faintly saline and remarkably cooling. Laraib distils the flowering tops fresh and bottles the water without a grain of sugar.
What it is traditionally used for
- Taken as a daily tonic to give strength to the heart
- Long regarded as one of the finest brain tonics in Unani pharmacy
- Taken to draw off excess heat and cool the body through summer
- Used to end the severe thirst that comes with heat and exhaustion
- A classical remedy for palpitation (khafqan) and anxious restlessness
- Traditionally taken to lift low spirits and melancholic complaints
How it is made
The flowering tops are cut in the cool of the morning and distilled the same day, before the volatile fraction is lost. A long, low-steam run in a traditional deg brings the water over slowly, and only the fragrant portion is kept. Single-origin borage, and nothing added afterwards — no sugar, no alcohol, no essence, no preservative.
How to take it
30–60 ml morning and evening, plain or with an equal measure of water. It is at its best chilled through the hot months. Physicians traditionally pair it half and half with Arq Baid Mushk when the complaint is more of the mind than of the body.
Good to know
- 800 ml family bottle
- DRAP registration number 0803812098
- Naturally sugar-free — suitable where sugar is being watched
- 100% natural steam distillate; refrigerate after opening
Nazia Farooq (verified owner) –
Recommended by an old hakeem in Rawalpindi for anxiety and heat. I chill it and drink it right through the summer. My mother uses it for her palpitations and will not switch brands.
Adnan Yousaf (verified owner) –
Good quality distillate and I like that it is sugar-free. Honestly there is not much taste at all, which suits me. Delivery to Sialkot was slow the first time, but the second order came in three days.
Taimoor Qureshi (verified owner) –
I take it in exam season, when my chest gets tight and my thoughts race. Half a glass morning and night. It does not knock you out, it just takes the edge off enough to work.
Sidra Kazmi (verified owner) –
My father is eighty and takes a glass every morning for his heart, as his own father did. He says it lifts the fog. Clean smell, no sweetness, and the price has barely moved in years.