Dragon Tongue Leaf, Loquat Leaf, Rock Peel & Pear Soup

Why people make this soup

Anyone who has had a cold in Hong Kong or southern China will recognise the frustration of the lingering cough that stays weeks after everything else has cleared up. This soup was developed precisely for that situation. Dragon tongue leaf (long li ye) — a plant that is almost impossible to find outside of Cantonese herbal medicine shops but well known to Hong Kong families — is considered one of the most effective single herbs for clearing lung heat and easing phlegm cough. Combined with loquat leaf (pi pa ye, whose leaf extract is the basis of many commercial cough syrups globally), mixed almonds for lung moistening, and the tart, aromatic shi huang pi (rock peel), this is a soup with a serious pedigree for respiratory recovery.