Slow-boiled soup 老火湯
Hairy fig root (wuzhimaotao) soup
五指毛桃豬骨湯ng5 zi2 mou4 tou4 zyu1 gwat1 tong1
Gentle and balanced. Traditionally fine for most people, any time of year. Wuzhimaotao is sweet and neutral to slightly warm; tufuling is neutral.
Good for traditionally believed to strengthen the spleen and lungs and lift a heavy, damp feeling.
- 15 minprep
- 2 h 30 mincook
- 6servings
- One potSpring, Summer
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Ingredients
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- 3¼ quarts3 LWater
2 pantry items with a checked Amazon match. Buy the fresh pork bones locally or on Weee!.
Method
- Rinse the roots and soak for 20 minutes.
- Put the meat in cold water, bring to a boil and let it bubble for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse off the scum.
- Bring the water to a rolling boil. Add everything, boil hard for 20 minutes, then cover and simmer on low for 2 hours.
- It should smell faintly of coconut.
- Skim off any fat and season with salt just before serving.
Who should go easy
Buy from a trusted seller: a toxic root (gelsemium) has been mixed into wild-picked batches. Ask a practitioner if pregnant.
Traditional Chinese food therapy, not medical advice. Ask your doctor if you are pregnant, on medication or unwell.
Ingredient natures from Guangdong Provincial Administration of TCM, 五指毛桃 soup note, Hong Kong Department of Health, CMRO, "中藥趣談" (五指毛桃 entry), Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society, "中醫食療——食物種類分析" (Dr Lam To-yee, registered Chinese medicine practitioner, 2022). How we judge a soup’s nature.
Watch someone make it
Home cooks on YouTube. Opens right here.
