Fresh Smilax (Tu Fu Ling) and Grass Turtle Soup

Why people make this soup

When autumn and winter dry the skin, many of us start to itch. For others it is the opposite — too much rich, fatty, “heaty” food plus too little sleep lets internal “damp-heat” build up, and the skin reacts with itchiness, boils and breakouts. Grass turtle is a humble, affordable cousin of the prized money turtle, but it is still a fine soup ingredient that traditionally nourishes yin, moistens dryness and clears damp-heat. Paired with smilax root, it is a soup folks have long reached for when heat-type itchiness flares.