Fresh Beef Vine, Eucommia & Black Bean Soup

Why people make this soup

Fresh beef vine root (niu da li) is available at Chinese or Asian herbal produce shops and online; when buying fresh, ask the vendor to peel and slice it thin for you to save preparation time. It has a reputation in food therapy for smoothing and strengthening the liver and kidney, loosening tight muscles and ligaments, and gently relieving the joint aches that come with cold weather or overwork. Paired with eucommia bark and chain fern, both traditional herbs for the sinews, bones, and lower back, this herbal broth needs no meat to be satisfying — the black soy beans and southern dates carry their own gentle sweetness and substance. It is the kind of soup Cantonese families keep on rotation through autumn and winter, particularly for anyone whose knees and lower back have been complaining.