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Red dates are one of those Chinese herbs that you can throw into a soup to make it sweeter.
This does not mean that red dates are only used in sweet soups. Use it in savoury soups too.
Also known as jujubes, red dates are widely considered as the "living vitamin pill" by the Chinese. It contains Vitamin B, C, E, P, phosphorus, calcium, iron and more.
Scientists have also found that cyclic adenosine monophosphate found in red jujubes can slow down the growth of cancer cells.
Tonic soups made from a combination of Chinese herbs like red dates, astragalus, dried goji berries, ginseng, and dang gui were fed to those recovering from surgery to improve immunity, strengthen the body and prevent relapses.
Red dates must be cored before cooking. The piths make it heaty.
Try using red dates in your cooking starting with the 3 recipes here.
This recipe is very simple and can even be done on the move. Both dried longan and red dates are very sweet. It is therefore not necessary to add additional sugar to the soup.
Red dates 红枣 (hong zao) is good for an easily irritable stomach.
Dried longan 桂圆 (gui yuan) is longan fruit 龙眼 (long yan) that has been dried. It is also known as 龙眼干 (long yan gan) which is more literal. I personally prefer the name 桂圆 as it is more poetic. : )
It helps blood circulation and is good for ladies who feel cold during their menstrual cycles.
Ingredients
Directions
Add the red dates, dried longan and very hot water into a vacuum flask and bring the vacuum flask to work. By mid morning, you will have a nice hot flask of sweet soup for your morning break. heeheehee.
This lily bulb soup with lotus seeds is a light refreshingly sweet soup. It is good for those feeling irritable and uncomfortable due to the hot weather.
Ingredients
Directions
A Chinese chicken soup recipe with milk? Weird right? But this recipe for red dates and milk makes a good combination for nourishing the skin.
Use skim milk if you are concerned about the fat content of full cream milk. Do not overboil. Remove the ginger from soup before serving.
There are so few ingredients, this should be an easy chicken soup to make.
Ingredients
Directions
Red dates is a very common ingredient in Chinese soups. I have quite a number of soups that contain red dates. To find the other recipes, ENTER "red dates" into the search box at the top right corner of this page.