Green Radish, Sweet Corn, Water Chestnut, and Fig Soup

Why people make this soup

There is an old Chinese saying: “Eat radish in winter, eat ginger in summer — and you won’t need a doctor.” Radish of all kinds is prized in Chinese food therapy, but the green radish (qing luo bo) has a special distinction: its nutritional profile is similar to the more familiar white radish, with the addition of vitamin A, giving it a slightly broader food-therapy benefit in traditional usage.

This soup is one of those all-family Cantonese staples that is just as good for prevention as for recovery. Sweet, naturally flavoured, and remarkably easy to make, it combines the best of the winter cooling pantry: green radish to clear lung and stomach heat, sweet corn for its gentle diuretic and digestion-supporting properties, water chestnut for its classically cooling and throat-soothing qualities, and figs to help lubricate the intestines and support immune function.