Ginseng Six-Flavour Soup

This ginseng soup is traditionally used to improve digestive functions, increase vitality and reduce dampness in our body.  It can be cooked sweet with rock sugar and served as a dessert or cooling drink, or add in some meat to make it savoury, as a soup.

Clock wise - Polygonatum Root, dried Lotus seeds, white colour Dioscorea  Root sliced, brown and white Euryale seeds, dried Lily bulbs or Baihe, Chinese Ginseng (sugar coated) in a bag and in the centre, dried Longan.
Polygonatum Root/Polygonatum Odoratum ~ 'Yuzhu' is good for wind and prevent dryness to nourish yin, promote the production of body fluid and relieve dryness syndromes.
Dioscorea Root ~ 'Huai Shan' literal name is 'Mountain medicine' has a neutral atmospheric energy, neither hot nor cold - ability to build qi in the lungs, improve lung functioning, helps relieve coough due to weak lung funtion, also good for diabetes.
Lily Bulbs ~ Baihe, slightly bitter in taste, helps to moisturise the lung and relieve cough.
Euryale Seeds (Qian Shi) ~ also known as Fox Nut is the fruit that comes from an annual type of water plant native to east Asia.  These plants can be found throughout ponds and low-lying lakes of China, India and Japan.  Taking these seeds is  believed to retard aging.
Longan ~ also known as Dragon Eye is used as a remedy for stomachache, insomia and amnesia.  The fruit is said to invigorate the heart and spleen, nourish the blood and have a calming effect on the nervous system.
Lotus Seeds ~ 'Lian Zi' in Chinese, is used mainly for the spleen, heart, kidney and also possess calming qualities.

I added rock sugar to make this as a dessert and as a cooling drink.  It can also be taken hot or chilled, very refreshing indeed, especially on a hot and humid day.

Ingredients

• 40 gm Chinese Ginseng
• 20 gm Dioscorea root
• 20 gm Polygonatum root
• 20 gm dried Lotus seeds
• 10 gm Euryale seeds
• 10 gm dried Lily bulbs
• 10 gm dried Longan fruit
• 6 bowls of water
• Rock sugar to taste

Preparation

1. Rinse all the herbs once.
2. Place them in a pot and add in 6 bowls of water.
3. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for at least 2 hours or until the lotus seeds are soft and tender.
4. Add rock sugar to taste and serve warm or chilled as desired.
5. Makes 2 to 3 servings.

Note :  The ingredients for this soup are all pre-packed and readily available in all Chinese medical shops.