Red Dates Tea

Red Dates Tea

Soup Name: Red Dates Tea

Traditional Chinese Name:  红枣茶 (Hóng zǎo chá)

Introduction:
My herbalist suggested I drink a simple tea made of red dates during my period. It’s super easy to make, as the dates are already sitting in the fridge and you just add hot water. Some people will boil it with a few other ingredients, such as wolfberries and fresh ginger slices. This is also an ideal confinement drink if you’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth – replace this in place of coffee or tea to avoid the caffeine, but get the benefits of the blood replenishment.

 

Amount serves: 1 cup for 1 person (you!)

What Ingredients are required?

6 dried red dates, sliced

1 cup of boiling water

How do I prepare it?

  1. Slice your red dates thinly
  2. Add to a mug and add boiling water
  3. Steep for 2 minutes. It will get sweeter over time as the tea steeps further.

Any benefits?

  • Helps rejuvenate the body after a period and restore blood loss
  • Excellent for maintaining healthy blood pressure
  • Excellent source of Vitamin C

Any precautions?

  • Make sure you remove the seeds of dried red dates as the seeds are known to create “fire” in the body
Chicken Soup with Red Dates

Chicken Soup with Red Dates

Chicken_reddates_wolfberries_carrots_s

Soup Name: Chicken Soup with Red Dates

Traditional Chinese Name:  红枣雞湯 (hóng zǎo jī tāng)

Introduction:
This soup is an easy and sweet soup that is perfect to warm you up on a chilly autumn or winter’s day. Chicken is considered to be very nourishing (補) and can give your body a good kick of healthy heartiness (this is similarly recognized by Westerners who drink chicken noodle soup when sick).  To sweeten the soup, red dates are added. We also suggest adding a palmful of wolfberries to boost the qi or “chi” which is ideal for cool weather. Carrots round out this simple yet delicious soup. You can see from the photo that this recipe results in a rich, deeply-colored broth and I can assure you, it’s tasty, too!  (Yes, I’m drinking as I type this post.) Depending on whether you use a fresh, whole chicken or alternatives, the difficulty of creating this soup can vary from 1-star (from pre-washed and cut chicken with minimal preparation) to 4-star (whole chicken from scratch).

 

Amount serves: 6 to 8 soup bowls

What Ingredients are required?

1 fresh whole chicken, quartered
5 large, dried red dates (to taste depending on how sweet you like your soup to be)
10 g of dried wolfberries (small palm-ful)
2 large fresh carrots, sliced
2L of water

How do I prepare it?

  1. Prepare the chicken
  2. Wash and soak the dried wolfberries
  3. Add red dates to your soup water and bring to a boil
  4. When the water boils, combine all the ingredients together
  5. Boil on medium-high for at least 1 hour

Any benefits?

  • A warm soup that is perfect for autumn or winter
  • Chicken is very nourishing (補) and creates a healthful soup
  • Red dates are an excellent source of Vitamin C
  • Red dates are also used in throat-soothing drinks
  • Wolfberries are high in antioxidants and contain 6 essential vitamins, Beta-Carotene, Calcium, Potassium, Iron and Zinc
  • Wolfberries are also known to enhance the qi or “chi” in your body

Any tips or precautions?

  • Whenever using real, whole chicken, it’s useful to have an oil scooper on hand to help scoop out the fat and any large or small particles that float to the top of your soup. I usually need to use the scoop two or three times — once after the soup is fully boiled and still hot and there is an abundance of oil floating on the top, then once again after the soup has cooled slightly and you have additional oil and particles that have had time to float to the surface, and usually once again upon re-heating (possibly the next day).
  • Feel free to drink the same soup the next day after re-boiling. I like to make an extra big pot and any that isn’t finished can be drank and finished off the next day.

 

Red Dates Hawthorn Tea

Red Dates Hawthorn Tea

Red Dates Hawthorn Tea

Soup Name

Red Dates Hawthorn Tea

Traditional Chinese Name:  

山楂红枣茶 (shān zhā hóng zǎo chá)

 

This nice slightly sweet and very tart tea was introduced by my herbalist who suggested I make it for my dad (while he was visiting HK). The tea is designed for people who would like to lose weight, reduce the fat content in their bodies, reduce blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and help clear the blood of the impurities that come with a not so healthy diet. That’s not to say my dad’s not healthy, but he does enjoy all foods – so this tea will help balance out a delicious, heavy meal and aid in digestion. The tea is super tart, so you can add either apples or a sprinkle of sugar to sweeten it up. It’s best drank either at room temperature or hot.

What’s involved?

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 5 mins

Serves: 4 cups of tea

Ingredients

Cooking Instructions

  1. Soak all the ingredients in warm water for about 5 minutes and rinse clean
  2. Boil your tea water
  3. When the water boils, add all the ingredients together (except the sugar)
  4. Keep covered on a small boil (medium heat) for about 1 hour
  5. Serve hot or warm and add sugar (as needed)

Benefits

  • Helps reduce the fat content in the body
  • This red date and hawthorn tea will also help reduce blood pressure and bad cholesterol
  • It helps clear the blood of toxins
  • This tea is especially helpful after a meal and helps in digestion

Precautions

  • The hawthorn is especially tart and sour, so not everyone will like it like that
  • Take caution when adding sugar (as not to add too much)
  • Be sure to pit the dates (or use pitted dates). The pits are said to be “CHO” – which is very heaty, but not in a good way

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Wood Ear & Red Dates Tea

Wood Ear & Red Dates Tea

Wood Ear & Red Dates Tea

Soup Name:

Wood Ear & Red Dates Tea

Chinese Name:

木耳红枣茶 (mu er hóng zǎo chá)

This tea is warming in nature and sweet to taste.

 

For more videos, visit us on YouTube.

This warming tea has so many amazing purposes!  

The key highlight of this tea is the wood ear.  Wood ear in Traditional Chinese Medicine is known to reduce hypertension (lower blood pressure), support blood flow and circulation, tonifies and nourishes the blood and Qi, and alleviates coughs, moistening the lungs and removing phlegm.  

To make this super potent, after you boil the tea, remove the wood ear and slice into small pieces and serve as a snack (or with the tea).

I’ve also made wood ear salads, which allows you to still consume wood ears with more diversity in your diet!

 

For post partum:

This tea I drank as a confinement tea and within the first 0-5 days of confinement to help eliminate the lochia. 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’s involved?

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 90 mins

Total time: 1 hour 45 mins

Serves: 3 cups of tea

Ingredients
Cooking Instructions
  1. Soak your dates and wood ear for 10-15 minutes in cool water
  2. Boil your soup or tea 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

Some tips!

  • You can pre-soak the wood ear first thing in the morning.  This will soften until you need to boil them.
  • Be sure to buy and use pitted red dates as the seeds are quite fiery (not in a good way).  Some red dates come pre-seeded, but if not, you can use a sharp knife and remove them or halve them first and remove.

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Red Dates

Red Dates

Red Dates

Ingredient Name:

Red Dates (also known as jujubes, or Chinese dates)

Traditional Chinese Name:

红枣 (hóng zǎo)

 

This is a MUST HAVE in your Chinese soup (or cooking) pantry!  These little round, shriveled bright red fruit can come in a variety of sizes, cuts, shapes, and with or without seeds.  The fresh fruit itself is seeded in its mature state produced by the Ziziphus zizyphus trees, which are commonly found in Asia and some parts of Europe and India.  In Chinese cuisine, it’s actually one of our staple ingredients and I keep some in my kitchen pantry all year round.  They are found in Chinese soups, desserts, stews, and dishes, as well as eaten as dried snacks and in teas.

How do I prepare it?

    The only preparation needed for dried red dates is to rinse with warm water and to pit the seeds if needed.  To remove the seeds from the fruit, I use a pair of clean scissors and just snip them away (see video of the Red Dates and Longan Chinese Herbal Tea for preparation of the red dates).  You can buy them pitted or unpitted at your local Chinese supermarket or wet market.
    It’s quite interesting to observe the varying firmness and hardness of these dried fruits.  You’ll find red dates that are softer and squishier, so much easier to cut.  

Where can I buy it?

      • You can purchase red dates from most Asian supermarkets prepackaged
      • You can also purchase this in bulk from specialty stores (online herbal shops)
      • The one thing I did notice is that the Chinese prepared ones are different from Western prepared red dates.  So just check to be sure they look like the above photos.  

What is the cost?

      • A package costs around $3-5 CAD

      • However, if you buy direct from the Chinese dried food stores, the prices will also range depending on the quality of the dried red dates and whether they are pitted or not, with pitted being more expensive.

Any benefits?

      • Red dates are known to assist in maintaining healthy blood pressure and assist the stomach and spleen in poor appetites
      • It is also commonly used to address stress in drinks and teas
      • Due to its sweetness, it is soothing to the throat and used to treat sore throats
      • Red dates are an excellent source of Vitamin C
      • A common ingredient found for Chinese confinement

Any precautions?

      • Be sure you are buying red dates from a reputable source as some red dates do carry diseases

      • For soups, use pitted dates. The seeds are known to create “fire” in the body and not usually ideal

Looking to build your basic Chinese Soup Pantry?

The dried red dates is one of them!  Check it out in my video to learn more!

 

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