Green Olive, Golden Monk Fruit & Snow Pear Water

Why people make this drink

The Chinese green olive (Canarium album, called qing lan) is quite different from the Mediterranean cured olives most Westerners know — it is eaten fresh, has a bitter-astringent taste at first bite that transforms into a lingering sweetness, and has been used in Chinese herbal medicine for centuries. Traditional texts credit it with clearing heat, detoxifying the body, dissolving phlegm, aiding digestion, and even neutralising the toxins from fish, crab, or accidental gas exposure. When in season, green olives are at their most fragrant and full-flavoured — a perfect time to make this drink. Combined with golden monk fruit — a gourd fruit dried at low temperature that produces a beautifully sweet, smoke-free brew — and cooling, moistening snow pear, this drink is naturally sweet, clear, and gentle. It is a traditional go-to for lung-heat coughs, sore dry throat, airway sensitivity, and as a supportive drink during upper respiratory illness or immune-support periods.

Method

1. Wash the green olives; use the flat side of a knife or a mallet to give each a light crack (this helps release the flavour without completely breaking them apart).
2. Rinse the golden monk fruit; crush or break it open with your hands — flesh, seeds, and shell can all go into the pot.
3. Wash the snow pears, leave the skin on, remove the cores, and cut into chunks.
4. Combine all ingredients in a pot with 1.8–2.1 L of water.
5. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes until about 1.2 L of liquid remain.
6. Serve warm. Drink over 1–2 days.

Nourilo’s Tips

This drink is naturally sweet, refreshing, and great-tasting. It is particularly noted for helping people who experience dry, painful mouth and throat after cancer chemotherapy — traditional food therapy associates it with supporting the recovery of oral moisture. It also has general anti-cancer properties attributed to the ingredients in folk tradition. People with cold constitutions should add one chopped dried tangerine peel during cooking to balance the cooling nature. Golden monk fruit (jin luo han guo) is sweeter and cleaner-tasting than regular monk fruit because it is dried at low temperature rather than smoked. Fresh green olives are available at Chinese or Asian grocers when in season; if unavailable, dried figs make an excellent substitute.