Soups
Fresh Dendrobium, Pear & Fig Sweet Soup
Traditionally used to nourish the stomach, generate fluids, and ease dry throat and constipation
In short: Fresh Dendrobium, Pear & Fig Sweet Soup is a soup that Traditionally used to nourish the stomach, generate fluids, and ease dry throat and constipation. It is most often made for respiratory & lung wellness, digestive wellness, cleansing & regularity. Total time about 40 min. Key ingredients: figs, sweet and bitter apricot kernels, rock sugar.
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.
What studies say about the key ingredients
Traditional use is not the same as clinical proof. Here is the strongest human research we found for each ingredient, limitations included.
- Dendrobium
Salivary flow rate and oral mucosal scores improved more in the Dendrobium group than in the control group using vitamin B12 rinse alone (P < .05). Serum IL-10 rose from baseline, and oral bacterial composition differed.Limitation: Small single-hospital sample; the Dendrobium group also used the B12 rinse, and the abstract does not say whether the control group received a placebo drink.PubMed 39811879 · 2 more dendrobium studies
From the Nourilo Research Library. Findings come from specific doses, extracts and populations and may not apply to a home-cooked recipe.
Safety first — read before you cook
This is a traditional food, not a treatment. Please check with your doctor or pharmacist before making it a regular part of your diet if you:
- are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are cooking for a young child;
- take regular medicines — especially blood thinners, blood-pressure, diabetes or immune-suppressing drugs;
- have a kidney, liver or heart condition, or a known food allergy.
Ingredient notes for this recipe
- Apricot kernels: Raw apricot kernels contain amygdalin, which turns into cyanide after eating. EFSA estimates that half of one small raw kernel can exceed the safe level for a toddler. Use no more than the recipe states, never eat them raw, and do not serve them to young children. Source: European Food Safety Authority
Stop eating it and seek advice if you notice an allergic reaction or feel unwell. Safety notes reviewed 8 October 2026 · How we write safety notes
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