Wood Ear & Red Dates Tea

Wood Ear & Red Dates Tea

by | Oct 16, 2012 | Confinement Soups, Postpartum Soups | 6 comments

Soup Name: Wood Ear & Red Dates Tea

Traditional Chinese Name:  木耳红枣茶 (mu er hóng zǎo chá)

Introduction:
This tea is posted as a post natal/confinement tea and is drank only within the first 0-5 days of confinement to help eliminate the lochia (not going to go into detail what lochia is, but please google it if you’re not sure). It’s a simple tea with 3 ingredients (the meat is optional if you’re vegetarian) and very easy to make. It’s a sweet, slightly tart tea and must be drank hot/warm. It’s one of the better tasting teas I know available for confinement! You can boil a whole big batch for 5 days worth, refrigerate and then reheat when needed or boil fresh batches everyday. It is recommended to drink 1-2 glasses a day (depending if you’ve got other teas or soups already filling your tummy!). Do not add additives like sugar or salt. Keep it clean, light and natural.

 

What Ingredients are required?

This portion yields only 1 cup of the tea.

100 g of pork shank
50 g of pitted red dates
50 g of dried wood ear
3 cups of water


How do I prepare it?

  1. Soak your dates and wood ear for 10-15 minutes in cool water
  2. Boil your 3 glasses of water
  3. When the water boils, add all the ingredients together and boil on a medium boil (covered) for 1.5 hours
  4. Serve hot/warm directly as is

Any benefits?

  • This tea helps in discharging and eliminating the lochia
  • It helps the body regenerate and replace lost blood

Any precautions?

  • Be sure to pit the dates. The pits are said to be “CHO” – which is very heaty, but not in a good way
Boiled wood ear and red dates

Wood Ear

by | Nov 4, 2010 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Ingredient Name:  Wood ear, cloud ear, tree ear, black fungus

Chinese Name: 木耳 (mu er)

What is this?

  • An edible fungus used in Chinese and other Asian cuisines
  • Wood ear is often used in stews, soups, or stir-fried with other vegetables
  • It has a light, earthy flavor and a slightly crunchy, spongy texture
  • When cooked with other ingredients, it is great at absorbing the flavors around it

How do I prepare it?

  • Soak for at least 30 minutes in warm water (it will expand to many times it’s original size)
  • Trim any tough or gritty parts off
  • Rinse and it is ready for use

Where can I buy this?

  • Wood ear is commonly sold dried
  • It is available in Asian supermarkets

What is the cost?

  • Wood ear is inexpensive to buy and cost around $11 HKD for 150g

Any benefits?

  • Wood ear is said to increase fluidity of the blood and improve circulation
  • It is often made into a “tea” (boiled with water) and given to women who have recently delivered a baby to help eliminate blood from the uterus faster

Any precautions?

  • None that we know of
Pictures of dried wood ear