Oh how I love thee, my salted orange!  Let me count the ways…

Oh how I love thee, my salted orange! Let me count the ways…

Oh how I love thee, my salted orange! Let me count the ways…

Tea Name:

The Salted Orange

Traditional Chinese Name:

鹽蒸橙子 (yán zhēng chéngzi)

Nature:  warm

Taste:  sweet, salty

For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.

What?  Salted oranges?

Let’s start by saying that if you see a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor (and even all the old ladies at the wet mart that I meet), that if you’ve got a cough, you SHOULD NOT be consuming oranges.  Especially, if they are cold and super sweet.  From a TCM perspective, this exasperates the cough even more because it’s sweet and the cold creates excess yin, which makes you cough even more.

However, there are ways to modify the nature of the orange!  Almost magic, but not quite.  You literally have to increase the temperature of the orange by simply steaming it!  It’s the same principle in how lettuce is a cooling ingredient, but once fried with ginger and garlic, it becomes neutral or even warming. 

Similarly, you expose the orange to some heat and shift its nature from cool to warm and then add salt to it.  Salt itself, is also a warming ingredient that is salty to taste and softens hardness, eliminates accumulations and dissolves abscesses.  It is amazing for reducing toxic heat, which is normally found with sore throats, and helps reduce swelling, which is also a symptom that sore throats often bring.

From a western perspective, fresh oranges have ample amounts of vitamin C, but does begin to denature and breakdown at temperatures of 86 degrees Celsius.  However, you can still benefit from these benefits if you soak it in warm water (below 86C) and add salt to it as well.  But the Chinese do love their warm healing tonics and teas!

 

What’s involved?

Prep time: 2 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 12 mins

Serves: 1 person

Ingredients

     

    Cooking Instructions
    1. Cut the orange with the flatter side of the orange down so it can sit properly in a shallow bowl
    2. I will use a chopstick to break up some of the orange so the juices can be released prior to steaming, this is optional
    3. Generously sprinkle the salt on top of the orange.  Again, optionally, you can poke the salt directly into the orange.
    4. Begin to boil your steamer or pot
    5. Once your steamer is ready, put your orange into the pot, ensuring it’s not submerged into the water
    6. Cover and steam on medium for 10 minutes
    7. Once done, remove from the steamer and allow it to cool slightly
    8. Using a spoon, break up the orange inside, mixing up the salt and juices and enjoy!

    Alternatively, you can use the microwave to do it, heating it at 2 minute intervals at a time, covered, until your desired internal temperature.  Be sure to mix it around at the end of every cycle to check.  The microwave is a just a bit more inconsistent in its cooking.

    The other option is that you can directly half the orange and share with someone!  My mom’s done this with me and my sisters and have made 4 halves and the whole family could enjoy this.

    The best thing about this is that it’s such a portable recipe!  You can bring it with you camping, you could take it with you on vacation, and the ingredients are so readily available!  It’s literally, a tonic on the go!!

    Try it and let me know how it goes!

    The Q&A (from TikTok)

    A huge thanks to my TikTok community for the engagement on this video.  I’m now answering some of these common questions and answers here.

    Can I also add honey?

    From a TCM perspective, honey is also sweet and may exasperate the cough further and the point of this particular recipe is to really add salt (see above benefits of salt) to neutralize the sweet and really work to soften the sore throat.  If you really want to add honey, do it in small amounts (orange itself is quite sweet already) and do it once it’s cooled to around 60C as any benefits of honey and the degradation of the product.  I don’t add this to boiling teas at all.

    Will it help relieve the sinuses?

    This is not a recipe to help clear sinuses or relieve phlegm and dispel moisture from the body.  Ingredients that will do this include dried tangerine peels, apricot kernals, or barley, to name a few.  A few like this Snow Pears and Chen Pi (Tangerine Peels) for Coughs and Congestion, will also do the trick.  This recipe is really for soothing and healing the sore throat and some cough relief, albeit quite topical.  

    Can I drink this every day?

    Yes, if you’re feeling the sore throat and cough for a few days, you can definitely consume this daily.  The key is that it’s not completely cooling and is warmed enough it doesn’t create excess yin or yang in the body.  The only thing I would caution is the sugar consumption because an orange still does contain sugar, except we’ve neutralized it with salt, but the calories are still there.

    How do I know if it’s working?

    This is the age old question of Traditional Chinese Medicine (and even for any holistic approach to wellness).  Trust.  LOL.  Western medicine is usually more symptom based whereas Traditional Chinese Medicine takes a Confucianism (source: Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine: encouraging the twain to meet).  So long as you keep to the understanding and practice of achieving and restoring balance in the body, mind, and spirit and that everything is connected, it’s working.  You can read up on “Getting Started with TCM in Soups“.

    What’s the best salt for this?

    I’m using kosher salt here, but you can use table salt or Himalayan salt as well.  The point is to be using any type of natural salt to neutralize the sweet taste (and nature), but the calories as the same. 

     

    THANK YOU TO MY COMMUNIty (AS ALWAYS!)

    CHECK OUT OTHER SIMILAR HEALING HERBAL SOUPS

    Learn more about how these types of teas and soups can help improve your overall blood circulation and how you actually know that it's working?

    It's not a perfect science (still working to perfect it), but I'd say the methodology and thinking is sound 🙂

    Would love to hear your thoughts!

     

    EXPLORE MORE

    Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht Soup

    Soup Name: Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht (with oxtail) Traditional Chinese Name: 羅宋湯 (luó sòng tāng) Nature:  Warming Taste: Savory, sweet, and slightly sour For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Did you know the secret ingredient to an HK-styled...

    What are good replacement ingredients for peanut allergies in Chinese Soups?

    Here are suggestions for replacement ingredients for peanuts in Chinese soupsOne guiding principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the yin yang theory.  In the natural world, there exists a balance between 2 opposing and co-existing forces and yet, they also exist...

    Healing Chinese Chicken Herbal Soup with Fish Maw

    Soup Name: Healing Chinese Chicken Herbal Soup with Fish Maw Traditional Chinese Name: 花膠雞湯 (huā jiāo jī tāng) Nature:  Warming Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  The star of this soup is FISH MAW.  This takes collagen to the...

    Delicious One Pot Vegetable Vermicelli Soup for Dinner

    Soup Name: Delicious One Pot Vegetable Vermicelli Soup for Dinner.  Literal translation from Chinese is "Mixed vegetables vermicelli pot soup". Traditional Chinese Name: 雜菜粉絲鍋湯 (zá cài fěnsī guō tāng) Nature:  Neutral Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you...

    ABC Soup in a Collagen Rich Salmon Head and Chicken Feet Broth

    Soup Name: ABC Chinese Soup in a collagen rich Salmon Broth (with Chicken Feet) Traditional Chinese Name: 雜菜蕃茄三文魚湯 (zá cài fānjiā sānwènyú tāng) Nature:  Slightly cooling Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Taking collagen to...

    Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht Soup

    Soup Name: Hong Kong Styled Russian Borscht (with oxtail) Traditional Chinese Name: 羅宋湯 (luó sòng tāng) Nature:  Warming Taste: Savory, sweet, and slightly sour For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Did you know the secret ingredient to an HK-styled...

    ABC Soup in a Collagen Rich Salmon Head and Chicken Feet Broth

    Soup Name: ABC Chinese Soup in a collagen rich Salmon Broth (with Chicken Feet) Traditional Chinese Name: 雜菜蕃茄三文魚湯 (zá cài fānjiā sānwènyú tāng) Nature:  Slightly cooling Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.  Taking collagen to...

    5 Tips for Exercising in the Cold (from a Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective)

    5 Tips for Exercising in the Cold (from a Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective)One guiding principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the yin yang theory.  In the natural world, there exists a balance between 2 opposing and co-existing forces and yet, they also...

    Turn leftover rice into a delicious, warming congee with shrimp and yams

    Soup Name: Shrimp Congee with Fresh Yams and Lettuce Traditional Chinese Name: 蝦粥 (xiā zhōu) Nature: Neutral Taste: Sweet  For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube. Want something easy?  Want something delicious? This is the perfect lunch to make in 30 minutes...

    Making a Delicious Lotus Root with Vegetables in Pork Broth Chinese Soup (with Roasted Fresh Peanuts!)

    Soup Name: Making a Delicious Lotus Root with Vegetables in Pork Broth Chinese Soup (with Roasted Fresh Peanuts!) Traditional Chinese Name: 蓮藕豬骨湯 (Lián'ǒu zhū gǔ tāng) Nature: Neutral Taste: Sweet  For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube. For this post, I made 6...

    GIVE YOUR LOVE OF SOUP.

    FOLLOW US AND SHARE.

    ON YOUTUBE

    ON INSTAGRAM

    ON FACEBOOK