Salt-Steamed Orange

Why people make this

Most people know that eating raw citrus during a cough can make things worse — the cooling, phlegm-promoting nature of raw orange is not helpful when your airways are already congested. But generations of Chinese families also know that cooking the orange completely changes its properties. The compounds in the peel — including naringenin and orange peel oil — are associated with cough suppression and phlegm dissolution in the traditional literature, and these are released more fully when the orange is steamed whole. A pinch of salt draws these active compounds out further. The result is a warm, fragrant remedy that is easy enough for a child and effective enough that parents keep coming back to it. It takes 20 minutes and uses ingredients almost everyone has at home.