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.

Method

1. Rinse the dragon tongue leaf and loquat leaf. If using loquat leaf, wipe away or strain out the fine hairs on the underside — they can irritate the throat.
2. Rinse the shi huang pi and crack it lightly.
3. Wash the pears, remove the cores, and cut into thick slices.
4. Blanch the lean pork briefly in boiling water; drain.
5. Place all ingredients in a pot with 2.4 L of water.
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer for 2 hours, reducing to about 1.2 L.
7. Drink the soup; eat the pear and pork.

Nourilo’s Tips

This soup is light, clear, and refreshing. As long as it is cooked for the full 2 hours, it is not excessively cooling in nature. It can be used as a regular preventive soup against lung-heat cough, pharyngitis, and bronchitis. For a child-friendly version without meat, substitute one mandarin cake (ju bing) for the shi huang pi and omit the pork — it will be just as effective for heat cough. Dried tangerine peel (chen pi) can be added to any variation. This soup is NOT suitable for cold-type cough with white, watery phlegm — for that, try purple perilla leaf (zi su ye) 11 g, ginger 3 slices, and mandarin cake 1 piece, boiled down to 600 ml.