Soups
Cimicifuga, Black Bean and Lean Pork Soup
Traditionally clears heat-toxin and nourishes the blood
In short: Cimicifuga, Black Bean and Lean Pork Soup is a soup that Traditionally clears heat-toxin and nourishes the blood. It is most often made for blood nourishment, everyday balance. Total time about 1 hr 45 min. Key ingredients: black soybeans, goji berries, candied dates, lean pork.
Why people make this soup
Nourilo opens with a caution many people overlook: a healthy person should not pile on tonics, and someone with a cold or flu certainly should not — it can let the illness dig in. For lupus, where the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, blindly “tonifying” can stir things up further. So this soup goes the other way: it is traditionally used to clear heat-toxin and nourish the blood, for lupus with blood-heat signs — flushed cheeks, achy joints and muscles, hair loss, dizziness, ringing ears, and a dry, restless feeling.
Method
- Blanch the lean pork.
- Rinse and soak the remaining ingredients.
- Place all ingredients in a pot.
- Add 1.8 L of water and simmer down to 900 ml. Serve.
Nourilo’s Tips
The cimicifuga head is bitter, traditionally clearing heat-toxin and helping disperse rashes; with black bean, goji and candied dates it gives a blood-nourishing, toxin-resolving brew. Using black-tail snake (wu shao she) in place of pork is traditionally considered more effective. This soup is bitter and not very palatable — for an everyday family soup, drop the cimicifuga and use astragalus (bei qi) instead.
What studies say about the key ingredients
Traditional use is not the same as clinical proof. Here is the strongest human research we found for each ingredient, limitations included.
- Black soybeans
Systolic blood pressure fell more in the black soy peptide group (-9.69 mm Hg) than in the placebo group (-2.91 mm Hg) after baseline adjustment. Plasma malondialdehyde decreased and superoxide dismutase activity increased compared with placebo.Limitation: Used an isolated peptide supplement rather than whole black soybeans, and followed participants for only 8 weeks, so the results may not apply to food intake.PubMed 23924691 - Goji berries
Compared with placebo (n=80), the goji juice group (n=81) reported greater improvements in several self-rated symptoms, including stress, mental acuity, sleep quality and overall well-being, under a random effects model.Limitation: Outcomes were self-reported symptom questionnaires, and several symptoms showed significant heterogeneity across the four pooled trials of a single branded juice.PubMed 22897500 · 3 more goji berries studies
From the Nourilo Research Library. Findings come from specific doses, extracts and populations and may not apply to a home-cooked recipe.
Safety first — read before you cook
This is a traditional food, not a treatment. Please check with your doctor or pharmacist before making it a regular part of your diet if you:
- are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are cooking for a young child;
- take regular medicines — especially blood thinners, blood-pressure, diabetes or immune-suppressing drugs;
- have a kidney, liver or heart condition, or a known food allergy.
Ingredient notes for this recipe
- Goji berries: A few cases of raised INR (a bleeding-risk marker) have been reported in people taking warfarin after drinking concentrated goji tea or wine. If you take a blood thinner, check with your doctor. Source: Memorial Sloan Kettering — Lycium
Stop eating it and seek advice if you notice an allergic reaction or feel unwell. Safety notes reviewed 8 October 2026 · How we write safety notes
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