Five flower soup recipes to escape the hottest days

Guangdong has a long tradition of making flowers into food due to its warm and humid climate conditions. For locals, flowers are not only beautiful to behold but can be quite tasty as well. And more than a few varieties make good treats. The blooming ingredients can add color, flavor, taste and shape to dishes, and also has specific value in nutrition, cosmetology and diet therapy.

Recently, Guangdong has entered “Sanfu”, the hottest days of the year in China. Most areas are sultry and humid with high temperatures. Locals therefore often cook flower soups during the Sanfu days to clear the heat.

Here are five simple recipes for flower soups. Let’s cook a bowl of flower soup for friends and families on the upcoming weekend!

Frangipani and Pork Ribs Soup

Ingredients: 20g dried Frangipani, 500g pork ribs, a candied date, ginger, salt

·Wash the frangipani.

·Cut the pork ribs into pieces and blanch them to remove blood stains.

·Put two liters of cold water, sliced ginger, a candied date, and the Frangipani into a pot.

·Bring the water to the boil, then allow it to simmer for one hour.

·Add a little salt according to your taste.

Chrysanthemums and Wax Gourd Soup (Sweet)

Ingredients: 500g wax gourd, 40g brown sugar, 3 to 5 white chrysanthemums

·Peel the wax gourd.

·Put the wax gourd into a pot, add some brown sugar. Stir well with a spoon or your hand and let it lie in the pot for one hour. Then you will find a lot of water seeping out of the wax gourd.

·Put one liter of hot water into the pot, then simmer it for 20 minutes.

·Add some chrysanthemums. Chrysanthemums are not put inside until the soup is ready, so that they keep their fragrance.

·Add more sugar if you have a sweet tooth.

Hibiscus Soup 

Ingredients: 200g fresh hibiscus, 1 egg, 20g shrimps, 500g tender tofu, ginger, salt

·Remove calyx (the outermost part) and stamen (the pollen stalk) from the fresh hibiscus flowers, then wash the flowers for later use.

·Break and beat an egg in a bowl.

·Cut the tofu into small pieces.

·Cut the ginger into shreds

·Stir-fry the ginger shreds and shrimps, then add one liter of water.

·Bring the water to boil, then add tofu, egg and hibiscus.

·Wait for the water to boil again, then add a little salt.

Pumpkin Flower and Pork Soup

Ingredients: 200g pumpkin flowers, 100g lean pork, ginger

·Remove hard calyx (the outermost part) and stamen (the pollen stalk) from the pumpkin flowers.

·Wash and soak the flower petals with lightly salted water for 10 minutes.

·Wash and cut the lean pork into small pieces, then preserve the pork with a little salt, a spoon of cooking oil and a spoon of corn starch.

·Put one liter of water, sliced ginger and sliced lean pork into a pot.

·Bring the water to the boil for 10 minutes, then add pumpkin flowers.

·Boil the water for 5 more minutes, then add a little salt.

Note: Better to choose pumpkin flowers that have not fully bloomed or just bloomed, so that the taste will be crisper and more tender.

Apple Flower and Pork Soup

Ingredients: 5g apple flowers, 3g corn stigma (the long fibres from ripened corn), 100g lean pork, ginger

·Wash and cut the lean pork into small pieces, then preserve the pork with a little salt, a spoon of cooking oil and a spoon of corn starch.

·Wash the apple flowers and corn stigma.

·Put 800 milliliters of water, sliced ginger, corn stigma. and sliced lean pork into a pot.

·Bring the water to the boil, then allow it to simmer for10 minutes.

·Add the apple flowers and a little salt, then boil the water for 5 more minutes.

Note: Apple flowers are rare in daily life. They help produce saliva, slake thirst, and can be found in most flower tea stores. Corn stigma, the long fibres from ripened corn, are primarily diuretic. Fresh corn in the supermarket often have some corn stigma attached to them, which can be picked directly for soup.

Author| Ariel