Herbal Apple Soup for Dry Cough

using fruits and herbs — *Background image credit Janice*

If you have a dry cough or dry throat, this soup is especially suitable for you. This is also one of my favourite soups in this hot and humid island. The original recipe for this soup use Chinese pears [雪梨] but we have changed it slightly to use apples. The reason is simple, because we have some apples in the fridge and did not want to waste it. 🙂

From a TCM perspective, food has medicinal purposes and energetic properties. They can be eaten correctly to balance the body’s yin and yang. Once balanced, our body is nourish and we are in good health. Below we have added another column that highlights the benefit of each ingredients.

Ingredients

Apples, peel and cut into chunks	3-4 pieces	high in antioxidants
Solomon’s Seal Rhizome [玉竹]	15 grams	nourishes the yin in the lung and stomach.
Goji berries [枸杞]	7 grams	helps promote healthy skin and high in antioxidants
Chinese dried figs[無花果]	10 pieces	a neutral food (yin yang balanced) and known to moisten the lungs and relieve coughs
Sweet apricot kernels [南杏]	10 grams	helps to relieve heatiness and soothes coughs
Bitter apricot kernels[北杏]	5 grams	helps to relieve cough and asthma, moistens the intestines and unblocks the bowels.
Chicken bones or Lean pork	Optional, but if you are adding them about 300 grams

5 Steps to becoming stronger

Peel and remove core of the apples
Soak in the herbs (expect Goji Berries) for about 5mins in warm water
If you are adding in lean pork – blanch the meat before adding into the soup pot
Put everything into a soup pot, add 2.5 liters of water
Add salt for taste and Goji Berries before serving

Notes

南杏 are frequently used in Chinese soup for the sweetness and in Chinese dessert. But 北杏 we need to be a little bit more careful. It should not be overused for its slight toxicity. It should be used with cautions for infants and patients with diarrhea. However a little bit of it helps you build up defense against cold and dyspnea.
stomach deficiency, or phlegm-damp should avoid using 玉竹.