Basic Chinese Chicken Soup Stock (Soup Base)

Soup Name: Herbal Pork Soup

Introduction:

Although the name stipulates a clear pork bone broth, it is in fact, a herbal pork based soup.  It is clear and brothy and can serve as a good base for addition of vegetables to richen the soup and make it more hearty.  The greatest thing about this soup is that all the ingredients are readily available in your fridge/freezer if you stock up on it.  The ingredients don’t need to be fresh, so you can whip up this soup during rainy, typhoon stricten days where getting out of the house is impossible.  This neutral soup is sweet to taste and is very moisturizing to the body.

1 pound of fresh pork bones or fresh pork shank (any pork will do)
10-15 red dates
4-5 dried scallops (conpoys)
10 flakes of dried seabed coconut (or coco de mer)
2-3 L of water
1 teaspoon of salt (to marinate the pork)

How do I prepare it?

Pre-marinate the pork overnight with the salt (although this step is not necessary)
Soak all the other ingredients in water for 10-15 minutes in cool water
Begin boiling your soup water
Blanch the pork in a separate pot of boiling water
Add all the ingredients to boiling water
Boil on high heat for 30 minutes
Reduce to a simmer for at least 2 hours
Serve and enjoy!

 Any benefits?

• This neutral soup  is ideal for all drinkers (although I would recommend this to children 1+ years due to the amount of herbs used)
• Helps add moisture back to the body
• Great for dryer months of the year

Any precautions?

• Serve to children at least 1 year of age due to the amount of herbs used.  Although there is no risk, you may not have introduced these foods to them yet.