Children's Cough Food Therapy (by type)

Why people make these

Whenever the weather swings, Bro Niu sees children — whose defences against “external evils” are weaker — catch a cough easily. In the traditional view, cough mainly splits into wind-cold and wind-heat types; longer-standing coughs (from phlegm-damp, liver-fire, depleted lung-yin, or weak lung/spleen/kidney) are called “internal-injury” coughs. A new cough is usually external; a long one usually internal. Below are simple remedies matched to each type, so you can pick the one that fits.

Who it suits / who should be cautious

• Suits children whose cough you can roughly classify (see the patterns below). Match the remedy to the type — a cooling remedy for a hot cough, a warming one for a cold cough.
• For honey use, mind the age (honey only above age 1–2). If you cannot tell the pattern, or the child has fever, breathlessness, blood in the phlegm, or a cough lasting weeks, please see a doctor.

Why these patterns (the food-therapy logic)

• Wind-cold cough: frequent cough, itchy throat, heavy voice, thin white phlegm — traditionally helped by warming, dispersing foods like ginger, perilla and brown sugar.
• Wind-heat cough: harsh cough, yellow sticky phlegm hard to clear, thirst and sore throat (even with some cold signs, yellow phlegm or sore throat counts as heat) — traditionally helped by cooling, moistening foods like mulberry leaf, chrysanthemum and pear.
• Internal-injury coughs: phlegm-damp, lung-yin depletion, lung-and-spleen weakness, or lung-and-kidney weakness — each matched to its own gentle remedy below.

Remedies (by pattern)

Pattern	Ingredients	Method
Wind-cold (1)	1/2 bowl white radish juice; 1/2 tsp ginger juice; a little malt sugar	Mix, steam-warm, take warm
Wind-cold (2)	Perilla 3 qian; ginger 3 slices; northern apricot kernel 2 qian; brown sugar	4 bowls water to 2
Wind-cold (3)	Dried tangerine cake 1 tael; garlic 5 qian	Chop; 3 bowls water to 1.5
Wind-heat (1)	Mulberry leaf, chrysanthemum, apricot kernel 3 qian each; white sugar	4 bowls water to 2
Wind-heat (2)	Chuan bei 3 qian; snow pear 2; rock sugar	Steam in 2 bowls water (over age 2 use honey)
Wind-heat (3)	Fresh ox-tongue leaf 1 tael; fresh loquat leaf 5 qian; apricot kernel 5 qian; snow pear 2; lean pork 4 taels	6 bowls water to 3 (add 1/2 luo han guo if phlegmy after a cold)
Phlegm-damp	Tangerine peel 3 qian; walnut 1 tael; ginger 3 slices	Cook into congee
Lung-yin depletion	Scrophularia 1 qian; mai dong 4 qian; dark plum 2; platycodon 2 qian; licorice 1 qian	5 bowls water to 2
Lung & spleen weak	Carrot 1 (thin slices); red dates 10 (pitted, sliced)	5 bowls water to 2
Lung & kidney weak	Walnut 1 tael; ginger 3 slices; tangerine peel 2 pieces; a little rock sugar	5 bowls water to 2
Lingering (general)	Dried persimmon 2 (stems off); chuan bei powder 1/2 tbsp	Steam; eat in 2 portions a day

Bro Niu’s tips

Match the remedy to the type of cough. A dry persimmon with chuan bei powder, steamed, is a handy general remedy for a lingering cough. If a child tends to run hot, lean cooling; if they tend to feel cold, lean warming. When in doubt, choose the gentlest, most food-like option.

Community questions answered (selected)

• Q (anonymous): My 5-year-old just got over a month-long illness; these days they cough a few times only when brushing teeth in the morning, but otherwise barely at all. They tend to run hot — what can I make to clear it? Bro Niu: Make a soup of fresh ox-tongue leaf (1 tael), one apple and one snow pear (cored), 4 figs and apricot kernels (1 tael) with lean pork — simmer 1 hour; the whole family can drink it, 2–3 times a week. It is gentle and traditionally transforms phlegm and eases cough.
• Q (Suk): After COVID my 6-year-old lost a lot of weight and now has a dry, tickly cough with no phlegm, like an allergic-airway cough. I can’t tell if it’s a cold-wind cough or an internal-injury one — what soup helps? Bro Niu: Red dates contain an anti-allergy substance; simmer 1 sliced carrot with 8 pitted red dates in water for half an hour for the child, 3–4 servings. Routinely you can also use ginkgo (15, de-cored), walnut (1 tael), apricot kernels (1 tael), red dates (6) and tangerine peel (1) with partridge or black-bone chicken — the whole family can drink it.
• Q (Ally Lam): My 3-year-old has been coughing right on time at night — what soup helps? Bro Niu: A night cough is usually a wind-cold cough; try simmering perilla leaf, apricot kernel, ginger and brown sugar in water — boil 15 minutes, 2 servings — and see if it improves.

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Published November 9, 2010 · Adapted and translated for Nourilo from a traditional home-kitchen recipe. Approx. 4 min read.