Codonopsis, Polygonatum and Red Date Soup

Why people make this soup

People with low blood pressure often run low on qi and blood too — dizzy, short of breath, tired and weak, with palpitations, poor sleep, vivid dreams, restlessness or forgetfulness. In traditional food therapy, the everyday move is to build up qi and blood with gentle tonic herbs. This soup of codonopsis, Solomon’s seal and red dates is a warm, supportive bowl traditionally taken for exactly that picture — low energy, dizziness, sweating easily, palpitations and broken sleep.

Method

1. Rinse all ingredients.
2. Simmer in 1.5 L of water for about 1 hour until reduced to 900 ml. Serve.

Nourilo’s Tips

This soup also suits nervous exhaustion of the qi-and-blood-deficient type. You can take one batch a day, with a course running about half a month. If huang jing is hard to find abroad, hai yu zhu (a relative) works, or just leave it out; plain licorice can stand in for the honey-fried kind. For better sleep, adding 11 g each of schisandra (wu wei zi) and sour jujube seed (suan zao ren) is associated with calming and helping rest.