Wild Watercress, Golden Monk's Fruit & Lean Pork Soup

Why people make this soup

There is a particular kind of tiredness that comes in warm, humid, misty spring weather — not sleepiness exactly, but a bone-deep heaviness and achiness that makes everything feel like an effort. In Chinese food therapy, this is called “bone fire” (gu huo) — heat trapped within the skeletal system as a result of damp-heat accumulation. The body can’t quite release it, so it just sits there, making you ache and feel vaguely unwell.

Wild watercress (ye ge cai) — distinct from the cultivated watercress in salads — grows prolifically in spring in southern China and is considered one of the best herbs specifically for clearing this kind of deep heat. It also has traditionally recognized properties for clearing heat, promoting urination, resolving phlegm, and stopping cough. Combined with the naturally sweet, lung-nourishing monk’s fruit, this makes a genuinely pleasant broth — slightly sweet, clean and refreshing — that also helps with sore throats, coughing, and the general malaise that comes after a cold.