Hovenia Dulcis: Traditional Use and History of the Raisin Tree

Dihydromyricetin (DHM) doesn’t come from a lab. It’s a flavonoid from Hovenia dulcis, a tree that’s been used in East Asian medicine for centuries — much of that use tied to alcohol and the liver. This article traces that history honestly: what the old texts actually say, and the important caveat that traditional use is historical context, not proof that any modern product works.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration or Health Canada. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult your healthcare provider before use.

The Plant

Hovenia dulcis — commonly called the Japanese raisin tree or Oriental raisin tree — is a deciduous tree native to China, Japan, and Korea. It grows to roughly 10–15 metres, produces small greenish-white flowers, and bears a distinctive fruit: small round berries attached to thickened, fleshy, sweet-tasting peduncles (the swollen stem structures), which are the part most commonly eaten.

The tree is cultivated across East Asia. It isn’t a major commercial food crop in the Western sense — historically, its peduncles and seeds were valued more as a folk remedy than as a staple food.

DHM is the flavonoid most associated with the plant. The name “dihydromyricetin” reflects its chemistry — a dihydro (partially reduced) form of myricetin, a flavonoid found in many plants. The Hovenia brand name comes directly from the plant’s Latin genus, connecting the product to its botanical origin.

Traditional East Asian Medicine: The Record

It’s worth being clear up front about what this section is. The text below is historical and cultural context — a record of how Hovenia dulcis was traditionally used. Traditional use is not a clinical trial, and the fact that a plant was used a certain way for a long time is not, on its own, evidence that it produces any particular effect in the body. Read it as history, not as a health claim.

With that caveat: the plant has a long documented record in East Asian materia medica, much of it connected to alcohol and digestion.

In the Chinese herbal tradition, Hovenia dulcis (recorded under names including zhi ju / 枳椇) appears in historical materia medica texts, where the fruit and peduncles were associated with what was traditionally described as relieving the effects of alcohol and with “liver and stomach” complaints. The general framing in these sources is that the plant was used as a remedy taken around drinking.

Japanese traditional medicine (Kampo) likewise records use of Hovenia dulcis; the dried peduncles and seeds were used as a folk remedy associated with drinking and as a general tonic. Korean traditional medicine records the plant under the name jigugu (枳椇) with broadly similar traditional indications.

The recurring theme across all three traditions is the link between the plant and alcohol. In traditional terms this was often described as countering “alcohol toxicity.” That historical language loosely overlaps with concepts modern biochemistry frames differently — the body’s handling of alcohol and its byproducts — but the overlap is a point of historical interest, not a validated mechanism. Traditional practitioners did not have the tools to identify enzymes or receptors, and their framing should not be read as a modern pharmacological finding.

What Traditional Use Does — and Doesn’t — Establish

This is the part that matters most, so it gets its own section.

Traditional use is not proof of modern efficacy. A plant being used for something for a long time tells you it was available, accessible, and culturally trusted — not that it works for the reason people thought, or that an isolated, concentrated extract of one of its compounds will behave the same way. Plenty of long-standing traditional remedies have not held up to controlled testing.

What the historical record can reasonably offer:

A starting point for research. Ethnopharmacology — studying traditional remedies — is one of the ways researchers decide which plants are worth investigating. The traditional alcohol-and-liver association is part of why DHM has been studied at all.
A long record of human consumption. People in these traditions consumed the fruit and peduncles over a long period, which is part of the plant’s background — though, again, this is historical context, not a formal safety study, and it involved the whole fruit, not isolated high-dose DHM.

What it cannot do:

It cannot establish a mechanism. Any modern statements about how DHM interacts with the body have to come from modern research, hedged to what that research actually shows.
It cannot establish a dose. Traditional use involved eating the fruit or peduncle, not measured milligrams of isolated DHM.
It cannot replace clinical evidence, and it is not a basis for any claim that a supplement treats, prevents, or cures a hangover or any disease.

The honest framing: the history is genuinely interesting and explains how this plant ended up on researchers’ radar. It is context. It is not the evidence — and it is not a product claim.

From Folk Remedy to Isolated Compound

Identifying and isolating dihydromyricetin from Hovenia dulcis was the work of 20th-century phytochemistry, not traditional medicine. Researchers separated the plant’s flavonoid fraction and identified DHM as a primary compound of interest. That shift — from “the whole fruit, used traditionally” to “an isolated, measured compound, studied in the lab” — is exactly the line between the historical record above and modern research.

It’s also why a modern DHM supplement isn’t the same thing as the traditional remedy. Hovenia DHM is single-ingredient pure dihydromyricetin — one studied compound, isolated and standardised to a known dose, rather than the whole fruit. The tree is the origin story; the capsule is a modern product, and what it can and can’t claim rests on modern evidence, not on the old texts.

If you want the modern-research side of the story rather than the history, the what-is-DHM guide covers the compound itself, and the overview of DHM and liver health walks through what the research does and doesn’t show. For the science of why drinking produces a rough next morning in the first place, see what causes a hangover.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long has Hovenia dulcis been used in traditional medicine? The plant has a long documented history in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean herbal traditions, appearing in historical materia medica texts. Treat that history as cultural and historical context — it tells you the plant was traditionally used, not that it produces any specific effect, and not that a modern supplement made from it treats anything.

Does the traditional use of Hovenia dulcis prove DHM works? No. Traditional use is a record of how a plant was used, not clinical proof of efficacy. It’s one reason researchers chose to study DHM, but any claim about what DHM does in the body has to rest on modern research — and is always hedged to what that research actually shows. See the DHM safety profile and the what-is-DHM guide.

What was Hovenia dulcis traditionally used for? Across the East Asian traditions, the recurring association was with alcohol and with “liver and stomach” complaints — traditionally framed as countering “alcohol toxicity.” That’s historical language describing how it was used, not a modern medical finding or a product claim.

Is the traditional remedy the same as a modern DHM supplement? No. Traditional use involved eating the whole fruit or peduncle. A modern supplement like Hovenia is isolated, single-ingredient dihydromyricetin at a measured dose (1,000 mg per serving) — a different thing entirely, evaluated on modern evidence rather than the old texts.

Where does the Hovenia brand name come from? Directly from the plant’s Latin genus, Hovenia dulcis, the tree DHM is derived from. It’s a nod to the botanical origin, not a claim about the historical remedy.

Reviewed for accuracy against the cited historical and scientific literature. Hovenia is a liver-health supplement company; our product supports healthy liver function and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA or Health Canada.