Fresh Cereus Flower Soup (xian ba wang hua tang)

Why people make this soup

Nourilo once thought the cereus and the epiphyllum were the same flower, then learned they’re cousins in the cactus family — and that dragon fruit is in fact the fruit of this cereus (ba wang hua). The fresh flower is more cooling and mucilaginous than the dried, but its scent is lovely. Simmered with carrot, honey date and pork, it’s a fragrant, comforting bowl for those carrying stomach-intestinal heat — dry stools, a bloated, uncomfortable stomach, bad breath, a flushed face, a dry sore throat.