What medicinal ingredients are good for making soup?

Many people like to drink soup. It takes a long time to cook soup. The ingredients in the soup taste better after being cooked for a long time. Adding some medicinal materials when cooking soup is better for human health. There are some requirements for what medicinal materials to put in soup. Not all medicinal materials can be used to make soup. Improper use of medicinal materials will not only fail to play a health-care role but may also harm the body. Be sure to use medicinal materials with caution to make soup. What medicinal materials are good for making soup? Let’s take a look at it next.

1. Wolfberry - sweet, neutral.

Clears the liver and improves eyesight, nourishes liver blood, nourishes the kidneys and moistens the lungs. Used for deficiency of both liver and kidney, blurred vision and liver heat. The best quality ones are oval, plump, thick, dark red in color, and sweet in taste. Eating red dates, wolfberries and pork liver stewed in soup can have therapeutic effects such as clearing the liver, improving eyesight, and nourishing the liver and blood.

2. White lily - sweet, laxative, neutral.

It can produce fluid and moisten the lungs, resolve phlegm and relieve cough, and regulate qi. Used for cough caused by lung qi deficiency. When choosing, it is best to choose a slightly yellowish color. If it is too white, it has been smoked with sulfur and will taste sour. If it is too yellow, it is an old product. Crucian carp stewed with Adenophora sibiricum, Polygonatum odoratum, lotus seeds, white lily, and lean meat; or stewed with eggs, rock sugar, Adenophora sibiricum, Polygonatum odoratum, lotus seeds, and white lily in syrup; lotus seeds, white lily, and red bean syrup is a must-have dessert at Guangdong wedding banquets.

3. Longan - sweet, warm and slightly dry.

It nourishes blood, warms the liver and kidneys, and is used for physical weakness, deficiency of both qi and blood, and insufficient kidney yang. The best ones are light brown and translucent in color, and have a sweet taste with a hint of honey. Longan, red dates and egg soup, stewed water fish with yam, wolfberry, longan, tangerine peel and lean meat, raw fish with longan, scallop and lean meat, etc.

4. Lotus seeds: remove the core.

It nourishes the kidney and releases semen, and is used for kidney yang deficiency and spermatorrhea. Lianxin: It clears the heart and relieves restlessness, nourishes yin and calms the mind, and is used for restlessness and insomnia, yin deficiency, and has a clearing and tonifying effect. When selecting, the ones with slightly yellowish color, full flesh, thick meat and heavy texture are preferred. The main ingredients of Guangdong soup are lotus seeds, coix seed, yam, wolfberry, coix seed, adenophora, polygonatum, and astragalus, and are used to make soup with chicken, raw fish, pork, duck, etc. The soup is delicious and is a good health product for the family in all seasons.

Wheat field, raw field, cooked field, almond, fig

Second row from left: Ophiopogon japonicus, raw rehmannia root, cooked rehmannia root, almond and fig

5. Ophiopogon japonicus - sweet, slightly bitter, cold.

Nourishes yin and moistens the lungs, produces body fluid and moistens dryness, clears the heart and relieves restlessness. Used for lung heat and yin deficiency. The best ones are slightly brown and yellow in color, with pointed ends and a plump and firm middle. Chicken stewed with Ophiopogon japonicus, fig, Codonopsis pilosula, ham and donkey-hide gelatin, or lean meat stewed with Pseudostellaria baicalensis and Ophiopogon japonicus. Both can have the above therapeutic effects.

6. Raw Rehmannia, Cooked Rehmannia - Raw Rehmannia is sweet, bitter and cold.

Nourish yin and clear away heat, clear internal heat and cool blood. Hard texture, gray-black color. Used for blood heat and damage to yin by dryness and heat. Raw rehmannia and ganoderma lucidum stewed with lean meat or chicken has the effect of clearing away heat and detoxifying. For example, during puberty, when acne appears on the face, lips become red, and there is white pus in the acne, it is appropriate to use raw earth and some mung beans to cook pigeon twice a week. After a few times, there will be obvious therapeutic effects. Rehmannia glutinosa, sweet, slightly warm. Nourish Qi and blood, and replenish kidney yin. Used for blood deficiency, kidney deficiency, yin deficiency and hyperactivity of fire, etc. It is processed, steamed and dried. It is best if it is dark in color, soft and sticky. It is usually used in spring and winter to make soup with red dates, wolfberry, black chicken, and angelica and rehmannia to make soup with lamb, etc. It is used for people with insufficient blood and qi.

7. Apricot kernel—bitter, warm, and poisonous.

Clear the lungs, relieve cough, lower qi and eliminate phlegm. Used for dry cough, asthma, phlegm, moistening the intestines and promoting bowel movements, and killing insects. Almonds are divided into southern apricots and northern apricots. Southern apricots are sweet, round and pointed in shape, and are generally used to make snacks or desserts, such as apricot juice bird's nest and apricot juice stewed snow frog. Northern apricots are bitter, warm, and poisonous if eaten in large quantities. They are longer and pointed than southern apricots. In Guangdong's traditional soups, southern and northern apricots are added together. The most common ones are almonds, dried cabbage, figs, and longli leaves cooked with pig lungs, which have obvious therapeutic effects on dry cough and excessive phlegm. You can also use watercress, almonds, candied dates, and pork bones to cook raw fish, which is also one of the daily health soups.

8. Figs - sweet.

It can promote the production of body fluids, relieve cough, eliminate restlessness, strengthen the stomach and clear the intestines. It is used for irritability, dryness of breath, thirst, dry tongue, and heat dissipation in the middle burner. The best ones are slightly brown-yellow in color, firm and thick in flesh, and uniform in size. Cooking beef shank with figs has obvious therapeutic effects on excessive smoking and drinking, hoarseness and coughing. You can also use it instead of candied dates when making soup. The soup does not have the overbearing sweetness of candied dates but has the same effect.

Adenophora coix seed red dates astragalus

The third row from left: Adenophora, Coix Seed, Red Dates, Astragalus

9. Adenophora Root – neutral and sweet.

Nourishes yin and clears the lungs, eliminates phlegm and relieves cough, benefits the stomach and harmonizes the middle. Used for insufficient lung qi and weak spleen and stomach. It is better to have slightly yellow color, uniform length and size, and crisp. A stew of lean meat with Adenophora odoratum, Polygonatum odoratum, almonds and Hericium erinaceus is a great product for nourishing yin and clearing the lungs. The Qingbuliang mentioned above also has its ingredients in it, so it can also be used on other meats.

10. Job's tears - sweet, mild and cool.

It can benefit the lungs, relieve cough and resolve phlegm, and promote diuresis and eliminate dampness. Used for kidney yang deficiency and spermatorrhea. The ones that are yellow and black, worm-eaten, and have a musty smell are inferior products, while the ones that are white, have full grains, and are thick and heavy are good products. Stewing old duck with coix seed, lentil and fresh lotus leaf has the effects of clearing heat and moistening the lungs, promoting diuresis and removing dampness, and relieving heat. Barley and mung bean soup, barley, scallops, wax gourd (hairy melon) and pork stew all have health and beauty effects.

11. Red dates - sweet, mild and warm.

Nourish blood and yin, replenish spleen and stomach, and harmonize Ying and Wei. Used for dizziness due to blood deficiency, dull complexion, etc. There are many kinds of red dates. Except for the large dates which are dark in color, the others are best when they are red in color, have a uniform fruit body, wrinkled skin, and a sweet taste. Tremella, lotus seeds and red dates soup has the effect of nourishing yin and moistening the lungs, and nourishing the skin and beautifying. Common health soups include pig tail stewed with peanuts and red dates, black chicken stewed with red dates and dried conch heads, raw fish stewed with black beans, red dates and lean meat, crucian carp stewed with red dates and red radish, etc.

12. Astragalus - sweet, slightly warm.

Nourish the middle and replenish Qi, consolidate the exterior and stop sweating, raise yang and lift the sunken. It is used for insufficient lung qi, sinking of internal organs, and chronic illness. When choosing, choose those with a slightly yellowish color and a unique herbal aroma. Usually add some Adenophora, Polygonatum, Tremella to stew lean meat or chicken, which can play a therapeutic role such as replenishing lung qi.

Luo Han Guo, Chinese yam, polygonatum

The fourth row from left: Luo Han Guo, Chinese yam, Polygonatum odoratum

13. Monk Fruit - sweet.

It can promote the production of body fluids and replenish qi, relieve cough and resolve phlegm, clear the lungs and moisten the intestines. Used for dry cough, excessive sputum, and heat dissipation in the upper part of the body. The better ones are those that are bluish-brown in color, round, smooth and slightly heavy. Drinking pig lungs stewed with monk fruit, dried cabbage, and almonds, or partridge stewed with monk fruit, longan, longan leaves, candied dates, American ginseng and lean meat regularly can improve the body's resistance to respiratory diseases.

14. Wild Smilax glabra - sweet, mild and neutral.

It benefits the spleen and stomach, soothes the mind and nerves, clears away heat and dampness, and stops leukorrhea. Used for leucorrhea in women and damp-heat in the lower abdomen. There are two types of wild yam: dried and fresh. Since the dried product is sliced ​​and dried, the best ones are those that are neat, white with a slight brownish red, and light. (Fresh vegetables are generally preferred for making soup). Soup made with wild yam, lean pork and grass turtle has the effects of clearing away heat, detoxifying, removing dampness and stopping leukorrhea.

15. Huaishan - Gan and Ping.

Strengthen the spleen and lungs, regulate qi and harmonize the middle. Used for spleen and stomach deficiency, coldness and loss of appetite. When choosing, do not choose those that are too white in color. If you feel obvious powdery particles when you touch them, they are those that have been smoked with sulfur and have a sour taste. Pork belly stewed with Chinese yam, lentils and dried cuttlefish is a delicious soup suitable for men, women, young and old in all seasons.

16. Polygonatum odoratum - plain and light.

Harmonize the middle, strengthen the spleen, clear and replenish lung Qi, nourish Yin and clear away deficiency fire. Used for spleen deficiency and lung heat. The best color is slightly yellow and slightly moist. Those that are too white have been smoked with sulfur and taste sour. Those that are yellow and black are aged products. Rabbit meat stewed with Adenophora odoratum, Polygonatum odoratum and tangerine peel, and soup with Adenophora odoratum, Polygonatum odoratum, lotus seeds, white lily and eggs are all good health products all year round. The above medicinal materials can all be added to pork, chicken, duck, fish, beef, etc. As long as you understand their properties, tastes and functions, you can make a delicious soup by matching the ingredients with the meat.