Let’s face it, it’s not gonna rain any time soon. To soothe that sore throat of yours, try these two drinks, one cold and icy for the day, and one warm and sweet for the night. Both recipes use the Asian pear, which is a really juicy, sweet and crunchy type of pear.
In Chinese medicine, Asian pears are considered a “cooling” food and are often used to reduce symptoms of coughs and ulcers. Last year I had a lingering cough for a whole winter, believe it or not, pear soup cured that cough. Other than Asian pears, we are also using green tea, mint, lemon or papaya which are all packed with antioxidants. Give it try...and you don't have to be coughing to try it by the way!
Pear mint green tea lemonade
Kitchenware
Pitcher, at least 1.5 liter
Blender
Fine-mesh sieve
Teapot or mug
Ingredients for 4 servings
1 large Asian pear, peeled and cut into pieces
1 large lemon, juiced
10~12 fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons agave, or honey
6 cups cold water
2 cups ice
1 cup hot water, for the tea
1 tea bag, we used jasmine green tea
Steps
Brew tea with 1 cup hot water and 1 tea bag using the teapot or mug. When the tea is brewing, do the following:
Use a blender, select the “whole juice” button if there is such an option, blend together pear, lemon juice, mint, agave/honey and 1 cup of cold water until smooth.
Set a fine-mesh sieve over a large pitcher, pour the blended juice into the sieve, let juice strain into the pitcher, and discard the puree that remains in the sieve.
Now the tea should be ready, into the pitcher of juice, put 2 cups of ice, pour the remaining 5 cups of cold water, and the tea. Mix well, and serve the drink over ice and garnish with mint leaves.
Sweet Pear and Papaya Soup
Kitchenware
A medium pot, 3 quarts
Ingredients for 4 servings
1 large Asian pear, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
1 ripe Hawaiian papaya, peeled and seeded, and cut into bite-size pieces
1~2 big pieces or 3~4 small pieces of rock candies, about 50g
4 cups water
Steps
Prepare the pear and papaya as described above
Into the pot, put all the ingredients including water
Bring it to a boil, then turn down the heat to simmer, cook for about 10~15 minutes, turn off the heat.
Serve the soup warm.
Watson's notes: the soup can be kept in the fridge and served cold too!