Green Radish, Sweet Corn, Water Chestnut, and Fig Soup

Why people make this soup

There is an old Chinese saying: “Eat radish in winter, eat ginger in summer — and you won’t need a doctor.” Radish of all kinds is prized in Chinese food therapy, but the green radish (qing luo bo) has a special distinction: its nutritional profile is similar to the more familiar white radish, with the addition of vitamin A, giving it a slightly broader food-therapy benefit in traditional usage.

This soup is one of those all-family Cantonese staples that is traditionally enjoyed both for everyday wellness and during recovery. Sweet, naturally flavoured, and remarkably easy to make, it combines the best of the winter cooling pantry: green radish to clear lung and stomach heat, sweet corn for its gentle diuretic and digestion-supporting properties, water chestnut for its classically cooling and throat-soothing qualities, and figs to help lubricate the intestines and support immune function.