Soups
Purple Yam, Fresh Lily Bulb and Red Date Black Chicken Soup (Zi Huai Shan Bai He Wu Ji Tang)
traditionally associated with brightening the complexion, nourishing skin moisture, supporting cellular renewal, and calming the digestive system
In short: Purple Yam, Fresh Lily Bulb and Red Date Black Chicken Soup (Zi Huai Shan Bai He Wu Ji Tang) is a soup that traditionally associated with brightening the complexion, nourishing skin moisture, supporting cellular renewal, and calming the digestive system. It is most often made for digestive wellness, skin & natural beauty, sleep & calm. Total time about 140 min. Key ingredients: lily bulb, red dates, ginger, silkie chicken (black chicken).
Why people make this soup
Purple yam is not the easiest ingredient to source, but it is well worth seeking out at specialty Asian grocers or organic food stores. It looks like an ordinary Chinese yam on the outside but reveals a striking purple flesh inside, packed with anthocyanins that give it antioxidant properties beyond what the common white-fleshed variety offers. Traditional food therapy calls it “purple ginseng” (zi ren shen), a nickname that reflects how highly it is regarded for overall wellness support.
Combined with fresh lily bulb — which is moistening, calming, and lung-supportive — and the deeply nourishing silkie chicken (a breed with dark skin and bones, prized in Chinese cooking for its gentle tonic properties), this is a soup that manages to be both genuinely beautiful to serve and meaningfully nourishing to drink.
What studies say about the key ingredients
Traditional use is not the same as clinical proof. Here is the strongest human research we found for each ingredient, limitations included.
- Red dates
Jujube was associated with significantly lower BMI and triglycerides, and lower fasting blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. LDL and total cholesterol fell only in some subgroups. HDL, AST and ALT did not change significantly.Limitation: The authors state the overall quality of the evidence is limited, and results varied significantly by dose, treatment duration and disease type.PubMed 40399274 · 3 more red dates studies - Ginger
Overall, acute and delayed nausea and vomiting did not differ significantly between ginger and control groups. A subgroup taking 1 g/day or less for over four days had less acute vomiting (OR 0.30).Limitation: Clinical heterogeneity between trials required subgroup analyses, and the authors state that sufficiently large, high-quality RCTs are still needed.PubMed 36501010 · 3 more ginger studies
From the Nourilo Research Library. Findings come from specific doses, extracts and populations and may not apply to a home-cooked recipe.
Safety first — read before you cook
This is a traditional food, not a treatment. Please check with your doctor or pharmacist before making it a regular part of your diet if you:
- are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are cooking for a young child;
- take regular medicines — especially blood thinners, blood-pressure, diabetes or immune-suppressing drugs;
- have a kidney, liver or heart condition, or a known food allergy.
Stop eating it and seek advice if you notice an allergic reaction or feel unwell. Safety notes reviewed 8 October 2026 · How we write safety notes
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