There is a saying: food and medicine share the same origin. Many people feel physically weak from hard work and want to nourish themselves during this season. Many will find medicinal herbs like Angelica sinensis and goji berries to simmer a "nourishing soup" as a treat for themselves and their family.
Step One: Selecting Ingredients
Choose ingredients such as ginseng, Angelica sinensis, goji berries, astragalus root, Chinese yam, lily bulbs, and lotus seeds. Additionally, you can choose soup ingredients based on your personal physical condition. For example, if you have excessive internal "heat," you can choose cooling and moisturizing herbs like mung beans, kelp, winter melon, and lotus seeds. If you have excessive internal "cold," you should choose ginseng varieties as the soup ingredient.
Step Two: Adding Ingredients
Meat should be blanched first to remove any residual blood and ensure the soup has a clear color. The whole chicken should be simmered to ensure the meat remains tender and not coarse after cooking. Also, do not add salt too early, as salt will cause the moisture in the meat to escape quickly and will also accelerate the coagulation of protein, affecting the fresh flavor of the soup.
Step Three: Heat Control
The heat should not be too high; the flame should be adjusted to keep the soup at a simmer. After it comes to a boil, simmer it on low heat for about 40 minutes in general. This is because ginseng contains a compound called ginsenoside, which will break down if cooked for too long, losing its nutritional value. Therefore, the optimal simmering time for a ginseng soup is about 40 minutes.
Furthermore, it is not suitable to use soups for nourishment when you have a cold. Even mild American ginseng should be avoided, as these rich and greasy soups can easily worsen cold symptoms. For women, it is suitable to drink warming soups before menstruation, but be careful not to overdo it, as excessive nourishment can lead to excessive menstrual flow.
Next Page: Editor's Recommendation] Commonly Used Herbs for Simmering Soups.
Commonly Used Herbs for Simmering Soups
Ginkgo Bil
It has a sweet, bitter, and astringent taste, a neutral nature, and is slightly toxic. It affects the lung meridian. It can astringe the lungs to stop asthma, stop leukorrhea, and reduce urination. It is suitable for conditions such as excessive phlegm with coughing and wheezing, leukorrhea, and enuresis. Use with caution for those with thick and difficult-to-expectorate phlegm.
Chinese Yam (Shanyao)
It can tonify the middle jiao and replenish qi, strengthen yang and nourish yin, calm the mind and soothe the spirit, moisturize the skin and nourish the hair, strengthen the spleen and stomach, stop diarrhea and dysentery, and resolve phlegm. It is used to treat various ailments from the five strains and seven injuries. However, it should be used with caution by those with colds, damp-heat, excess pathogens, or food stagnation in the gastrointestinal tract.
Astragalus Root (Dangshen)
It has a sweet and neutral taste, and affects the spleen and lung meridians. It has the effects of tonifying the middle jiao and replenishing qi, strengthening the spleen and benefiting the lungs. It is used for spleen and lung weakness, shortness of breath, palpitations, poor appetite, loose stools, deficient wheezing and coughing, and internal heat with thirst. It is contraindicated for use with Veratrum nigrum (Black Hellebore).
Poria (Fuling)
It affects the heart, lung, spleen, and kidney meridians. It promotes urination to drain dampness, strengthens the spleen, and calms the mind. It is suitable for edema with scanty urination, dizziness and palpitations due to phlegm-fluid retention, poor appetite due to spleen deficiency, loose stools, diarrhea, restlessness, palpitations, and insomnia.
Angelica Sinensis (Danggui)
It has a sweet and pungent taste, a warm nature, and affects the liver, heart, and spleen meridians. It has the effects of nourishing blood and activating blood circulation, regulating menstrination and alleviating pain, moistening the intestines to promote bowel movements, reducing inflammation and stopping diarrhea, and expelling wind and dampness. It can be used to treat blood deficiency with sallow complexion, dizziness and palpitations, irregular menstruation, amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea, abdominal pain due to deficient cold, constipation due to dry intestines, and injuries from falls. It is a very suitable ingredient for women to regulate their bodies.