Fresh Dendrobium, Pear & Fig Sweet Soup

Why people make this soup

After the Chinese New Year holiday, children often come home with stomach issues from overindulgence — too many sweets, fried snacks, and festive treats leave their digestive systems overheated and sluggish. Symptoms look like a noisy throat, small skin blemishes on the forehead, dry cough, or constipation. Nourilo turns to this sweet soup as a gentle reset: cooling enough to ease internal heat, but pleasant enough that children will actually drink it.

Fresh dendrobium (shi hu) is one of the more elegant ingredients in Chinese food therapy. The orchid family plant produces fleshy, slightly sticky green stems that are mildly sweet and deeply associated with nourishing the stomach’s “yin” — the cool, moistening quality that keeps the stomach functioning smoothly. Traditional Chinese herbal research suggests dendrobium may support gastric acid secretion, blood sugar regulation, immune modulation, and antioxidant activity. That is an impressive list for what is essentially a pleasant, mild green stem you simmer in a soup pot.

Method

1. Rinse the fresh dendrobium stems and cut into 2–3 cm sections.
2. Rinse the pears well, cut into chunks (leaving the skin on), and remove the core and seeds.
3. Rinse and halve the dried figs.
4. Rinse the apricot kernels.
5. Place dendrobium, pear, figs, and apricot kernels in a pot with 2.1 L of water. Bring to a boil over high heat.
6. Reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes, until reduced to about 1.2 L.
7. Add rock sugar and stir until dissolved. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nourilo’s Tips

This soup should be eaten with the ingredients, not just drunk as a liquid — the cooked figs and dendrobium pieces are particularly effective for easing constipation when chewed. The soup is mild and naturally sweet, so children usually enjoy it without fuss. If fresh dendrobium is not available at your local Asian market or herb shop, dried dendrobium at 11 g works fine. If dendrobium is simply not available where you live, a combination of ophiopogon root (mai dong) and jade bamboo (yu zhu) at 11 g each is a good alternative.