| When the summer heat sits heavy over the city and you feel warm from the inside out, a scoop of ice cream is nice — but if you ask any local, the real way to cool down is with a bowl of traditional Chinese 解暑甜品 (jiěshǔ tiánpǐn) — cooling desserts. Made with beans, herbs, fruits and roots, these sweet soups and jellies do more than just taste good. They are designed, according to traditional Chinese medicine, to clear internal heat, hydrate the body and restore balance during the hottest months. Here are the classics you will find everywhere this summer.  The undisputed national champion is 绿豆汤 (lǜdòutāng) — mung bean soup. Boiled slowly until the green beans split open and soften into the water, then sweetened with rock sugar and chilled, it is the default home remedy for heat exhaustion. Every grandmother has her own recipe. Some like it thin and drinkable; others cook it thicker into a porridge. Many add 百合 (bǎihé) — lily bulbs — or lotus seeds for extra cooling effect. It is so common that even office canteens and company kitchens serve it for free on the hottest days. Next comes 酸梅汤 (suānméitāng) — sour plum drink. Dark reddish-brown, tangy and only lightly sweet, it is made from smoked black plums, licorice, hawthorn berries and rock sugar. This is not a modern invention — it was the royal cooling drink of the Qing Dynasty imperial court, and today you will find it bottled in every supermarket and freshly made at every street stall. It is especially popular with spicy food, because its tart flavour cuts through grease and calms the burning of chilli on your tongue. For something with a softer, more delicate taste, try 银耳汤 (yín’ěr tāng) — white fungus soup, also called snow fungus soup. The fungus is boiled for hours until it dissolves into a silky, slightly gelatinous broth, usually with red dates, wolfberries and lotus seeds. It is naturally mild and not overly sweet, and many people drink it for its skin-nourishing benefits as much as for cooling down. It is often served warm in winter and chilled in summer. If you prefer something you can chew, 仙草冻 (xiāncǎo dòng) — grass jelly — is the southern classic. Made from the mesona plant, it is a dark, bitter-sweet black jelly served in cubes with sugar water, honey or soy milk. It has a wonderfully smooth, slippery texture and an earthy herbal flavour. In Taiwan and Fujian, it is often mixed with tapioca pearls, red beans and taro balls for a full dessert bowl. Other regional favourites include 龟苓膏 (guīlíng gāo) — guiling jelly, a bitter dark jelly from Guangdong said to be excellent for clearing heat, and 西米露 (xīmǐ lù) — sago pudding with coconut milk and mango, a tropical-tasting sweet soup popular across southern China. One thing all these desserts share: they are not cloyingly sweet. Traditional Chinese desserts are designed to refresh, not to satisfy a sugar craving. The sweetness is always balanced, and the herbal or beany base is meant to leave you feeling lighter, not heavier. Next time you are feeling overheated, skip the ice cream and try a bowl of mung bean soup or sour plum drink instead. It might just become your new summer habit. |
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