Your guide to COOLING and WARMING ingredients in Chinese Soups
Did your parents or grandparents ever tell you that you’re too “yeet hay” (heaty) and would make you a cooling soup or tea or drink, such as watercress soup or winter melon and then go on to explain that it was good for you and would help with your heaty body? This was me! And you grew up understanding this term called “yeet hay”, but it wasn’t easily translatable in English, but yet… you know. And now it comes back in full circle, understanding the principles in Traditional Chinese medicine, why there’s this re-balance in our diets!
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 exist in each other. Our bodies, minds, and souls are designed the same way in that to be healthy, we need to be in harmony between these 2 bipolar states. Yin is receptive and passive, calm and slow, embodying cold and damp qualities (when we are sleeping). Yang is its exact opposite in aggressive and active, embodying heat, dryness, and movement (when we are awake).
One of our mission at The Chinese Soup Lady is to bring these principles into the foods and drinks we consume in order to support harmony.
How to use this guide:
- This is purely a reference guide on what to consider as your soup ingredients
- Most Chinese soups have a combination of protein, vegetables or roots, and some simple herbs (such as dried longans or dried red dates)
- It’s not as easy as a mix and match! Although I wish it were. I would really suggest doing some research on the combinations available, such as existing recipes out there or ask friends and family.
- Do consult a physician if you’re unsure of your health and what to consume
- You can download a PDF version here
- Follow this next post on Using TCM as a guide for your every day soups and teas (video here!)
The great thing about understanding how yin and yang is balanced is that this also pairs with the cooking styles of Chinese soups!
You can follow this post on “How Different Styles of Chinese Soups are Made“.
For more videos, visit us on YouTube.
Tips and examples:
- Consider the complimentary tastes of ingredients (it’s not really a mix and match at random!). There are pairings that have worked for the TCM principles above such as balancing yin and yang.
- For example, the Cantonese dessert of silky tofu pudding (tofu fa) is usually combined with a ginger brown syrup. This is because the tofu is highly cooling and the ginger will offset that.
- For example, winter melon is best combined with pork rather than chicken (although I have tried that) to maintain the cooling effects of the soup. Winter melon is promoted as a summer soup for this very reason, so making it with warmer protein will reduce that effectiveness.
- The external environment also has an impact to your yin and yang balance. In the winter, we nourish the yang more to stay warm and in the spring, we want to reduce the yin to dispel moisture from the body.
- For example, chicken soups and especially double-boiled soups are recommended in the winter to keep us warm. Ginger is a great add to soups, including dried longans, which are all warming. The same applies to summer and hot weather where the Chinese lean towards watercress, gourds, and melon soups.
- Our internal state is probably the most important in determining which soup to make and how this principle helps.
- For example, postpartum is an important moment for women in recovering their balance for the long term. In postpartum, the body is in need of yang nourishment due to blood and fluid loss of childbirth. This is why all the foods, soups, and teas created for confinement are hot or warming and tend to be packed full of ginger.
- For example, the scratchy, bumpy, and inflamed tongue is a great example of too much heat (or yang) in our bodies. This is common when we have lack of sleep (remember how yang is active) or eat too much fried food (another source of heat into our bodies), so having cooling teas or soups will help relieve the excess yang.
- For further reading, I’ve tried to find some more scientific and published articles. Here is a good one to explore: “Relationship between food composition and its cold/hot properties: A statistical study” found at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666154320300247?fbclid=IwAR3w9POPSvEEvKs6JEStSH89EteoobZtigczTCcb0qsVgoCEMteNi00OMak
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Hi, I would like to make a cooling soup for my mom who is 94 years old. She has too much heat and weak lungs. She keeps coughing. Any recommendations?
Hey Jackie! Something nice will be the cooling teas that can help strengthen lungs. The sugarcane with imperatae root is nice to remove heat and support the stomach, lungs, and bladder. https://thechinesesouplady.com/sugar-cane-and-imperatae-drink/
This is super common tea in Hong Kong, sold commercially even for people that are feeling heaty.
The Apple Herbal soup with seabed coconut is also a great one for cough and it’s not too cooling: https://thechinesesouplady.com/apple-chinese-herbal-tea-for-coughs/
Hope this helps!
Lisa
Hi! Which category would apricot kernels, foxnut seeds, honey dates and job’s tears? Would you consider doing a diagram for the Chinese herbs? This diagram is very helpful. Thank you for putting it together
Thank you, Melodie! Apologies for the late reply, have been quite busy with work, but finally back into this now! Apricot kernals, foxnut seeds, and honey dates are quite neutral. Job’s tears are considered cooling. Great suggestion on the herbs for the diagram! I’ve put this in my parking lot! Thank you for the suggestion! Lisa