Glehnia Two-Winter Lean Pork Soup

Why people make this soup

Bronchial asthma tends to flare up in autumn and winter, but the underlying sensitivity of the lungs is something people carry year-round. Traditional Cantonese food therapy suggests that building lung resilience during the calmer summer months is a sensible approach — the idea being that prevention is far easier than treatment. This mild, pleasant soup is Nourilo’s recommendation for that purpose. It is not a treatment for an asthma attack; rather, it is an everyday soup that the whole family can enjoy, with ingredients that are gentle and nourishing.

The name “two-winter” (er dong) refers to the pairing of two yin-nourishing herbs whose Chinese names both contain the character “winter” (冬): mai dong (ophiopogon) and dong gua (winter melon).