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!)

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