Sichuan Fritillaria Steamed Pear is a popular home remedy to treat coughs in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
With cold weather coming, you will need this natural cough remedy in the next few months. I am excited to finally share this special yet simple recipe on the blog! The Fritillaria steamed pear takes only 3 ingredients to make: Sichuan Fritillaria, Chinese snow pear, and rock sugar.
Sichuan fritillaria (Chuan Bei, 川贝) and Chinese snow pear (Xue Li, 雪梨) are both known for their medicinal properties to calm coughs, moisten the lung and eliminate phlegm.
Not only Sichuan Fritillaria is used for adults, this herb is suitable for children as well. The additional rock sugar makes the steamed pear sweet and delicious to eat, therefore it is a favourable home remedy for kids. I remember the times after I had the flu, my mother would make me Sichuan Fritillaria steamed pear to treat my lingering cough.
Ingredients of Sichuan Fritillaria Steamed Pear
Rock Sugar (冰糖)
Rock sugar is a crystallized sugar, shaped as small rocks. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, rock sugar is believed to benefit the lung as a tonic and reduce coughs and phlegm too. This is why rock sugar is used in this recipe instead of white sugar. Rock sugar are often used in various TCM remedies and recipes.
What if you don’t have rock sugar? You can replace rock sugar with another natural sweetener, such as honey or organic cane sugar, and the remedy can still be effective.
Sichuan Fritillaria (川贝)
Among a number of Fritillaria spices, the Sichuan Fritillaria is the best for medicinal purpose. Traditional Chinese Medicine uses the bulbs of the plant to cure coughs and clear the lung. The Sichuan Fritillaria is a prized herb used in many traditional remedies and home remedies.
I used the Sichuan Fritillaria bulbs whole in order to show what that look like in the photos. You can buy and use them either whole or in a powder form. If you have a spice grinder, you can grind your Sichuan Fritillaria bulbs into powder, so that the herb is easily ingested along with the pear. I usually prefer to grind them up before use.
Chinese Snow Pear (雪梨)
Eating pears in the fall and winter months can support lung health. Pears can reduce coughs and phlegm, and have cooling properties. Whether eating pears raw or cooked, they are delicious!
See the photos below to correctly prepare the Chinese snow pear for this remedy.
How to Use This Remedy
The Sichuan Fritillaria steamed pear can be taken once a day, for a few days in a row. If the cough is mild, I find the remedy often effective after 1 serving. If the cough is severe, it may take 3 to 5 days to get rid of the cough.
The remedy is safe and taste good, therefore very popular for young children. I have read that the dosage of Sichuan Fritillaria should be kept to 1-2 g per day for young children, but for adult it’s safe to use up to 6 g per day.
If you are using more of the Sichuan Fritillaria bulbs for adults, you can divide up the daily dosage to make 2 servings of the steamed pear to consume morning and night.
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SICHUAN FRITILLARIA STEAMED PEAR
Ingredients
- 1 Chinese snow pear
- 15-20 Sichuan fritillaria bulbs
- 20 g rock sugar (approx. 8 pieces)
Instructions
- Peel the Chinese snow pear. Slice off the top 1/4 of the pear, then take a spoon to scoop out the inedible core. Take care not to break the bottom of the pear.
- Fill the the hollow inside the pear with Sichuan fritillaria and rock sugar. You can either use the fritillaria bulbs whole, or grind them up into powder. I prefer to grind them up, so it's easier to ingest all the fritillaria along with the steamed pear.
- Place the top of the pear back on as a lid, to cover up the hollow inside the pear. Put the pear into a ceramic bowl.
- Place the bowl into a steamer, and steam for 50 minutes. Remove the fritillaria steamed pear from heat, serve warm.
Notes
- This remedy can be consumed daily until cough subsides.
- Suitable for all ages, including young children.
Nutrition
The man at the Asian market gave me lotus seeds. He said they don’t carry the Sichuan fritillaria bulbs but it will still work the same. I feel nervous about using them because I wanted the actual ingredient.
I am so sorry that you couldn’t find the product at the Chinese market. It’s interesting they gave you lotus seeds instead. To me, Sichuan fritillaria is more of a medicinal ingredient, and lotus seeds are more of a food ingredient. Lotus seeds have medicinal value, but they can be eaten in large quantities and are unlikely to achieve the same effect. Maybe you can try to get the fritillaria bulbs from amazon, here is a link to the US store: https://amzn.to/3DBK7ao
My daughter’s acupuncturist gave her a Chinese medicine with this in it for her cough and it really helped. It is fantastic that I can make this myself. Thanks for the directions.
easy to make and i really love this recipe
An endless cough can be so frustrating and painful! Thank you for this delicious looking and natural remedy. Do you have a preferred source for buying fritillaria?
Amazing! So delicious and nourishes the body! Great timing for winter weather!
I love this. I had no idea that pears were so good for you, but I’m definitely getting some for my son. Hopefully this will help his cough. Thank you!
This is so cool! Love learning about this.
I myself have had so much success with Traditional Chinese Medicine and can’t wait to try this recipe this winter. Not that I want to get a cold but if I do I will be making this for sure. Where can I find the fritillaria bulbs locally? I am heading to Shanghai in a few days so am going to try and find some but outside of that, I am stumped.
Thank you for teaching us and sharing about Sichuan fritillaria bulbs. I assume this is a flower’s bulb? What a lovely remedy and treat!
You learn something new everyday, how interesting!
Interesting! I have a cough going on right now – not sure if allergies or cold, might give this a try.
We use natural remedies most of the time, I would definitely try this, food really can be medicine.
Love how different cultures have natural remedies. There’s actually a very similar Korean recipe used for coughs as well! So curious to try this version.
You always impress with your food as medicine recipes! Beautiful Yang!