Fo-ti, Polygonatum, Goji & Black Bean Soup

Why people make this soup

Plenty of middle-aged friends fret over greying and thinning hair. Chinese tradition has a lovely saying — “the hair is the surplus of the blood” — and beyond heredity, illness and stress, premature grey and heavy shedding are often linked to the liver and kidneys running low and the blood being thin. So the food-therapy approach leans on ingredients that support the liver and kidneys and replenish essence and blood. This soup does exactly that, and also suits people with a dull complexion and that tired, slightly warm, depleted feeling.