Summer Fruit Drinks

29/07/2021

This Summer Fruits Drink is inspired by a traditional Chinese home remedy for cough relief. Steamed or boiled pear with rock sugar is a delightful dessert very easy to prepare. This time we adding in our favourite fruit making it more flavourful.

The weather is really bad during this time of the year. It is hot and humid andgets raining from time to time in Singapore. With lockdown 3.0 begins the end of last Thursday, we tried to stay at home as much as possible. In meantime, we try different healthy food and drink to ease the heat. We grab some fruits in the market and made this Summer Fruit Drink (in the Chinese context, most of the mother’s will said dessert soup, Tong Sui) where it consists of Pear, Apple and Lemon. This sweet soup/drink soothe the lungs & throat. Indeed for ages – kids and adults.

What are Asian Pears?

We were excited to find Asian pears in a local supermarket during this season – they are big and juicy. Delighted, we bought some and cooked them to nourish ourselves. Asian pear, also known as Nashi pear or Chinese white pear, is quite different from pears commonly found in Europe. It has smooth, pale yellow skin with some brown speckles. Its shape varies: some are like pears; others resemble apples.

What are the benefits of the Asian Pear? Asian Pear is good for moisturizing the lungs. While the other ingredient is great for health, which we mentioned before in other posts. Red dates contain loads of vitamins. By adding in apple and lemon add in natural sweet and sour flavours to quenches thirst during the humid day. It is very refreshing to serve this sweet soup chilled too!

A Traditional Remedy for Cough

When we are young our mother will steam or boiled pear with rock sugar in the cold seasons. It is believed that the combination of these two ingredients has certain medicinal benefits. According to traditional Chinese medicine, this dessert can reduce excessive phlegm to effectively ease coughs caused by the common cold.

While it may not be a full cure but it surely will make you feel smoother. We can also guarantee its wonderful taste that will please your palate on all occasions. It’s a perfect warming dessert on cold winter days, and also a refreshing treat served cold when you need something to cool down.

How do we make them?

Start by adding all of the prepared fruits (apple, pear and lemon) to the pot and the dates before adding in the water. Make sure you have enough water to cover all your ingredients. We use cool water to boil it to avoid the fruits from getting overcooked. After the water is boil, lower down the heat and simmer it for 15 minutes. The nutrients of the fruits will be lost when it was cook under high heat for too long. Add in your choices of sugar (we uses rock sugar), makes sure the sugar is dissolved before serving. You can serve them hot which is what we like or leave it in the fridge to serve it cold. DO NOT add in ice, it will dilute the flavours and nutrients of this drink.

I’m not sure if that happened to you, but both Angela and I got a little sick after our second vaccination. Our head and body have been feeling a bit warm and sore. This is a perfect drink to cool our body a little making the whole vaccination journey a little better.

xoxo, Joe