Excellent Soup for Preventing Autumn Colds
Excellent Soup for Preventing Autumn Colds
Seasonal Dietary Therapy
There's a folk saying: “After Mid-Autumn Festival, every night grows colder.” Starting from the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, people truly feel each night is cooler than the previous one. However, due to this year’s prolonged summer heat and frequent rains earlier, midday and afternoon remain humid and hot, creating a pattern of cool mornings and evenings with hot days—especially during seasonal transitions—making people prone to catching colds. We now recommend a soup that can prevent autumn colds and influenza, suitable for regular consumption throughout autumn to ward off illness. It is—
Perilla Leaf and Prince Ginseng Lean Pork Soup
This soup has a strong perilla aroma, familiar and beloved by Cantonese people—just as essential to the flavor of local street food like stir-fried snails. This soup strengthens Qi, harmonizes the middle energizer, and dispels exterior cold, effectively preventing autumn colds and flu. It also assists in treating weak constitution prone to colds, presenting symptoms such as mild chills without severe fever, coughing, clear thin phlegm, shortness of breath, poor appetite, pale thin moist tongue coating, and floating pulse that feels weak upon deep pressure.
[Ingredients] 45 grams Perilla leaf, 20 grams Prince ginseng, 100 grams lean pork, 1–2 slices ginger.
Perilla leaf is warm in nature, pungent in taste, aromatic, entering the lung and spleen meridians, with functions of releasing exterior and dispelling cold, regulating qi, and harmonizing the middle. Prince ginseng is neutral in nature, sweet in taste, entering the spleen and lung meridians, with benefits of strengthening the spleen, boosting Qi, generating body fluids, and moistening the lungs. It is commonly used for spleen deficiency, fatigue, poor appetite, dry cough due to lung dryness, and post-illness weakness. Lean pork is neutral in nature, sweet in taste, capable of nourishing all five organs. Together, these ingredients strengthen Qi, harmonize the middle, and relieve exterior cold.
[Cooking Method] Wash and soak perilla leaf and prince ginseng in clean water for about half an hour. Then place them with lean pork and ginger in a clay pot, add 500 milliliters of water (about 5 bowls), boil for 20 minutes, then season with salt and cooking oil. Remove the herbal residue, slice the pork, and serve with soy sauce as a side dish. Suitable for 2–3 people, recommended for regular use during prevention periods. She Zizhang (Pharmacist, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine)