Black Bean, Wheat and Pigeon Soup

Why people make this soup

Waking up damp with sweat — or finding children’s pyjamas soaked through every morning — is a complaint that traditional Chinese medicine places firmly in the category of deficiency. Whether it is a young child’s constitution not yet fully settled, or a woman in midlife whose hormonal balance is shifting, the pattern of “heat leaking out” at night is one that food therapy has long approached with ingredients that gently tonify qi and consolidate the body’s natural ability to hold fluids in place. This warming, subtly savory soup of black soybeans, wheat grain, red dates, and pigeon has been used for generations in this way. It is mild in flavor, not cloying, and suitable for regular drinking over several days.