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American Ginseng Soup with Pork Ribs For Stronger Constitution


 

I made American ginseng soup with pork ribs over the weekend since I had recently bought some herbs from my favourite herbalist in town, Veng Tatt Soon. 

Over the past few months, we have been making watercress soup with pork ribs and I was getting rather tired of that soup! However watercress soup is great for the lungs (especially if you are coughing, or a smoker or feeling heaty) and now what with the pandemic, it is simply one of the better ways to boost one's immunity. And unlike lotus root soup, you can freeze watercress soup without any change to the watercress texture. 

I usually make about 8 servings of soup in my stock pot. This means I can freeze the other portions for other days. So making soup on the weekend means I get to drink soup over the next 3 days at least. 

This packet of herbs consisted of: 

American ginseng (3.8gm), 
Bei Zi (12gm), 
Dang Shen (12gm), 
Solomon Seal or Yok Chok (19gm), 
Goji (12gm), 
Red Dates (38gm) and 
Licorice or Gan Cao (2gm). 

I looked at the weight of the American ginseng and felt that my soup wouldn't have much ginseng taste so I dug out my own stash of American ginseng from the fridge and added a few more slices! I like my soups to taste hearty and wholesome, not watered down. Also remember to remove the seeds from the red dates after you soak the herbs. I usually soak the herbs for 10 minutes to soften them. 

As usual, I'd blanch the pork ribs in boiling water but I recently saw a video where it is recommended that we put pork ribs into the water and bring the water to a boil. I must try this method the next time. 

Fill up your stock pot with at least 8 bowls of water. Bring water to a boil and add the rinsed herbs and blanched pork ribs. Boil over high heat for 10 minutes with the lid slightly open. Then cover the pot and lower heat so that it's a mere simmer. Simmer soup on low heat for 1.5 to 2 hours. When the soup is almost ready, season with salt to taste. Then turn off the heat and let the soup develop its flavour for the next 1 hour. 

If the soup is not hot when you're ready to serve it, just heat it up again. 

Herbal soups taste better when they develop their flavours in the fridge. I usually store my cooled soups in stainless steel containers in the freezer. 

This American ginseng soup helps to revitalise your energy and build up your constitution which just means keeps you healthy. If you need to enhance your memory and cognitive power, then American ginseng is the herb to take. 

No wonder students are usually fed American ginseng tea by their mothers during exam periods. (I personally had this tea a few times when I was a teenager. My late mother was a big believer in herbs and "pak kei, wong tong, kei chi" was her Cantonese mantra. When I was a child, my dad would boil peanut roots soup for my sisters and I as it is believed that peanut roots will make us grow taller! I am tall and I wonder if the peanut root soup actually did the trick.) 

The bioactive phytochemicals, ginsenoside saponins in American ginseng is what makes the herb effective as a brain booster. It also makes you calmer.

This article also says that American ginseng Panax quinquefolium was found to "exert/s antimicrobial effects against several pathogenic strains of bacteria."

It is also called American ginseng because it is found in the regions of North America - from Quebec to Manitoba in Canada to Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma in the United States with the greatest cultivation in Wisconsin. It is said that the Native Americans used the herb as a universal remedy for children and adults.

American ginseng is nourishing to the yin and tonifies the Qi unlike its yang counterpart in the Asian ginseng. It cools and moistens and suitable for the young, the harried and stressed city dweller and as such is used in cases of excess heat or dryness in the body. Says Elizabeth Girard, a TCM practitioner, “It’s just the best herb for your immune system, for really generating fluids in the lungs.”

Other ways of preparing American ginseng is to simmer a few slices of the dried herb for 30 minutes on low heat and drink it as a tea. 

So if you're feeling cranky or stressed, try American ginseng soup or even tea. 

Note: we're all back to lockdown mode in Malaysia as I write this on 25 May 2021. Today our covid cases hit 7000+ and at this rate, it's going to be a long while before we get back to "normal" mode. 

Working from home or even just watching the news can get to everyone. I know people are getting more and more irritated with an incompetent government (which I didn't vote for - the one I voted for got booted out due to a power struggle), rising covid cases, tanking economy and disrupted business. Right now, it's not just friends of friends who contract covid. It's people we actually know. It's that prevalent in the community now. 

So keep your spirits up and keep that immunity boosted with American ginseng. It's inexpensive and calms you down. 


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