百子櫃THE HUNDRED DRAWERS
Dried lily bulb
百合
nourishes yinmoistens the lungscalms the spirit清心適合夜寐不寧、心煩氣躁、陰虛乾咳者
The fleshy scales of the lily bulb, separated and dried to ivory petal-like pieces; the 'dragon tooth' grade is the standard soup form, and fresh bulbs appear seasonally. Soaked half an hour, the scales cook to a tender, faintly sweet bite in both sweet teas and savoury pots.
TCM properties
Nature · cooling Flavour · sweet Meridians · heart、lung
Traditional food therapy
In Cantonese food therapy it is an evening herb, simmered to moisten the lungs, clear the heart and quiet the spirit, favoured in pots for restless, dry-throated nights.
Cautions: read first
- Take care with a wind cold cough, or a cold weak spleen and stomach with loose stools
Preparation
Soak dried lily bulb for 30 minutes. Fresh lily bulb goes in at the end of the pot.
Origin · Geo-authentic (道地) source
Longhui, Hunan (dragon tooth lily) and Lanzhou, Gansu (Lanzhou lily). AU grocer packs are labelled dragon tooth lily bulbs
Availability in Australia
Easy to find
Pairs well with
Soups that use this ingredient
Chestnut, lotus root and lily bulb vegetarian soup
Eight-treasure clear-moistening soup
Ching bo leung ("clear-nourishing-cooling") soup with pork shin
Lotus seed, lily bulb and poria soup with lean pork
Double-boiled silkie chicken in whole king coconut
Fritillaria and sea coconut soup with figs and lean pork
