Excessive dampness in the body can adversely affect health, potentially leading to spleen deficiency, muscle soreness, fatigue, loss of appetite, and poor digestion. Therefore, eliminating dampness is a crucial goal in wellness practices. Next, let's explore seven nourishing soups for dispelling dampness.
Dietary Therapy 1: Shepherd's Purse and Tofu Soup
Ingredients: 150g shepherd's purse, 150g tofu, 20g dried shiitake mushrooms, etc.
Preparation: Cut tofu into cubes. Soak dried mushrooms in warm water until softened, then slice. Wash shepherd's purse and cut into sections. Add sufficient water to a pot and bring to a boil. Add tofu and mushrooms, season with salt, stir well, and cover.Thicken with cornstarch slurry. Once the broth thickens, drizzle with sesame oil. Regular consumption of shepherd's purse promotes liver qi flow, improves vision, and benefits hypertensive patients with irritability and elevated blood pressure. It also cools the blood and stops bleeding. The combination of tofu and shepherd's purse is not only delicious but also ideal for spring wellness and disease prevention.Euryale Seed, Job's Tears, and Red Bean Soup
Ingredients: Half a bowl each of Job's tears, red beans, and euryale seeds; appropriate amounts of bamboo leaves, purslane, locust seeds, and green tea (all dried ingredients)
Method: Soak Job's tears, red beans, and euryale seeds in water for one to two hours (hot water reduces soaking time by half);Soak purslane for 30 minutes. Wrap bamboo leaves, purslane, locust tree seeds, and green tea in cheesecloth. Place all ingredients in a pot, add water, and simmer for one hour. No seasoning is needed. Drink the broth and consume the coix seeds, red beans, and water chestnuts.
Benefits: This spleen-strengthening, dampness-expelling recipe originates from the Compendium of Materia Medica. Severe dampness often accompanies spleen deficiency; addressing both simultaneously yields faster results and prevents recurrence. While these ingredients may be hard to source, ready-made products like Yishutang Coix Seed Tea are available. Drink one cup morning and night, especially beneficial during spring or humid seasons.Compared to ordinary dietary therapies, this soup leans more toward medicinal cuisine, yielding significantly better results. It also offers benefits for lightening spots, brightening the complexion, and weight loss.
Dietary Therapy 3: Dried Tangerine Peel, Lotus Seed, Job's Tears, and Waterfowl Soup
Ingredients: 6g dried tangerine peel, 30g lotus seed kernels, 30g stir-fried Job's tears, 12g Chinese yam, 10g ginger, 250g waterfowl meat.
Preparation: Rinse wild duck meat thoroughly to remove blood residue, then cut into pieces. Lightly toast Job's tears in an iron skillet until slightly golden. Remove lotus seed cores and wash. Soak Chinese yam briefly in water. Rinse dried tangerine peel and ginger. Place all ingredients into a soup pot with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for 2 hours. Season to taste.
Benefits: Job's tears effectively dispels dampness. Simmering it with waterfowl strengthens the spleen, aids digestion, and alleviates diarrhea. This soup is ideal for those with excessive dampness, loose stools, or spleen deficiency. However, individuals experiencing diarrhea, colds, or coughs should avoid consuming it.
Dietary Therapy 4: Burdock and Radish Soup
Ingredients: 200g burdock root, 150g red radish, 150g white radish, 50g edamame beans, 6 bowls of water.
Preparation: Wash burdock root, lightly scrape off a layer of skin, and slice diagonally into 0.5cm pieces. Wash white and red radishes, peel, and cut into chunks. Rinse edamame and soak briefly. Place all ingredients in a pot, add 6 bowls of water, bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt and consume both broth and solids.
Benefits: Clears heat and dampness, strengthens the spleen and stomach, cleanses the intestines, and beautifies the skin.
Therapeutic Recipe 5: Astragalus and Red Bean Carp Soup
Ingredients: 30g astragalus root, 30g red beans (available at Chinese herbal shops), 1 carp, 3 slices ginger.
Method: Briefly soak and rinse herbs; clean and gut carp, pan-fry until lightly golden, then splash with hot water. Place all ingredients with ginger into an earthenware pot. Add 2000ml (about 8 bowls) water. Bring to a vigorous boil, then reduce to low heat and simmer for about 1 hour. Season with salt before serving.
Benefits: Strengthens spleen and boosts qi, dispels dampness and harmonizes stomach.Traditional Chinese medicine considers carp to be neutral in nature and sweet in taste, with effects including nourishing, strengthening the stomach, promoting diuresis, reducing swelling, facilitating lactation, clearing heat and detoxifying, and relieving coughs and phlegm. Simmered with astragalus and adzuki beans—which tonify the middle energizer, promote diuresis and expel pus, strengthen the spleen, and dispel dampness—it further enhances spleen-qi tonification, dampness expulsion, and stomach harmonization.
Dietary Therapy 6: Hawthorn, Mung Bean, and Duck Gizzard Soup
Ingredients: 40g hawthorn berries, 50g stir-fried mung beans, 2 fresh duck gizzards, 2 cured duck gizzards, 200g pork, 14 dried tangerine peels, 3 slices ginger.
Method:Rinse and soak all ingredients. Remove pith from dried tangerine peel. Clean fresh duck gizzards, split open, and remove internal organs (leave the gizzard membrane intact if desired). Rinse well. Soak dried duck gizzards in warm water, then rinse. Clean pork shoulder. Place all ingredients in an earthenware pot with 2500ml water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for 2 hours. Season with salt to taste.
Benefits: Strengthens the spleen, dispels dampness, stimulates appetite, and relieves indigestion. Broad beans are sweet and neutral in nature, warm in property. They are an excellent herb for tonifying the spleen without causing greasiness, and removing dampness without causing dryness. They can be used for fatigue, poor appetite, loose stools, and diarrhea caused by spleen deficiency with dampness. Combined with hawthorn, they synergize to strengthen the spleen, dispel dampness, aid digestion, and stimulate appetite.
Dietary Therapy 7: Three-Flower Coix Seed Lean Meat Soup
Ingredients: 30g kapok flowers, 30g egg flowers, 30g locust flowers, 30g coix seeds, 100g lean meat, 30g stir-fried mung beans, 12g dried tangerine peel or amomum villosum.
Preparation: Rinse kapok flowers, frangipani flowers, locust flowers, coix seeds, lean pork, stir-fried broad beans, and dried tangerine peel or amomum villosum. Place all ingredients in a clay pot, add sufficient water, bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Season with salt before serving.