Cabbage, Job's Tears & Mung Bean Soup (with herbal wash for external use)

Why people make this

Eczema can be stubborn, miserable, and — especially in children — heartbreaking to watch. In Cantonese food therapy the underlying pattern in many cases is described as “damp heat” — an excess of heat and moisture in the body that pushes upward and outward to express as inflamed, itchy skin. The approach is therefore two-pronged: cool and drain from the inside with a simple everyday soup, and relieve the itch directly from the outside with a herbal wash.

The soup is straightforward enough to cook every other day and mild enough to share with the whole family. The external wash requires three herbs from a Chinese pharmacy, but the preparation is simple — just a brief simmer and strain. Nourilo notes that starting at the very first sign of itching gives the fastest results.

Internal soup:

• Chinese cabbage (bai cai): Clears heat, promotes fluid metabolism, and is anti-inflammatory; the gentlest green vegetable in this formula
• Job’s tears / coix seed (sheng yi mi): Widely studied; traditionally used to drain dampness, clear heat, and reduce inflammation; one of the main food-grade herbs for damp-heat skin conditions
• Mung beans (lu dou): Classic heat-clearing, detoxifying food; reduces the internal heat that contributes to inflammatory skin eruptions
• Dried figs (wu hua guo): Soothe the digestive system and add gentle sweetness; balance the cooling nature of the other ingredients

External wash:

• White dittany bark (bai xian pi): A key herb for skin itching in TCM; used to clear heat, drain dampness, and stop itch — one of the most important topical anti-itch herbs
• Kochia fruit (di fu zi): Another core anti-itch herb; clears damp heat and relieves localised pruritus
• Arborvitae leaf (ce bai ye): Clears heat and cools the blood; used in skin conditions with redness and itching