Green Olive & Rock Sugar Drink

Why people make this drink

Green Chinese olives (qing lan, or Chinese white olive, Canarium album) are quite different from the Mediterranean olives most Westerners know — they are hard, fresh, slightly astringent, and fragrant, sold at Cantonese produce stalls in the warmer months. In Guangdong, they have long been called the “fruit of the lungs and stomach” for their traditional association with soothing the respiratory tract. When children suffer through that relentless, whooping cough that just won’t quit, grandmothers across Hong Kong and Guangdong have reached for green olives. Simmered with just a little rock sugar, the olives release a deeply aromatic, mildly sweet liquid that is traditionally associated with clearing lung heat, easing the throat, and helping to resolve phlegm. Nourilo teaches this simple recipe at his food-therapy classes, and students who grew up near olive orchards often recognise it immediately as a taste from childhood.