Fresh Houttuynia, Carrot & Lean Pork Soup

Why people make this soup

Houttuynia cordata — called yu xing cao in Mandarin or jyu sing chou in Cantonese — has a pungent, fish-like smell when raw that disappears completely on cooking, leaving a clean, slightly herbaceous broth. It is one of the most widely researched herbs in East Asian medicine, with laboratory studies suggesting strong antimicrobial activity. In traditional food therapy it is used specifically for what practitioners call “lung heat” — thick yellow-green phlegm, sore inflamed throat, bronchitis, and situations where infection has settled into the respiratory tract. Combined with carrot, which acts as a mild anti-inflammatory companion, this is a relatively quick soup (30 minutes) that can be made repeatedly during recovery.