Longevity Soup

Longevity Soup

　　Also known as Turtle and Crane Longevity Soup, this is a nourishing soup dish made with turtle meat and chicken, offering extremely high nutritional value. The dish has an auspicious name, making it suitable for festive birthday banquets. It is prepared using turtles and hens from Jingmen, which are processed and cut into 3 cm cubes. After being stir-fried in lard, the ingredients are placed in a clay pot or earthenware jar and simmered over high heat until the broth turns milky white and the meat is about 80% cooked. Then the pot is removed from the heat and allowed to cool before being simmered again over medium heat until the meat becomes tender and falls apart. The seasoning is adjusted before serving. This dish features a bright yellowish broth surface, milky white soup, a sweet and savory taste, and leaves a lingering fragrance in the mouth after eating.

　　Both turtles and cranes are animals known for their long lifespans. The *Baopuzi·Duisu* (Master Who Embraces Simplicity · Responses to Popular Conceptions) states: “Knowing the long life of turtles and cranes, people emulate their exercises to prolong life.” The *Youxian Shi* (Poems of Immortal Travel) also contains the line: “I ask you mayflies, do you know the age of turtles and cranes?” Cooking turtle and chicken together has a long history. As early as the Warring States period, banquets in the Chu Kingdom featured dishes where chicken was used as a substitute for crane, combining turtle and chicken. The *Chu Ci·Da Zhao* (Songs of Chu · Great Summons) records: “Fresh large turtle and sweet chicken blended with Chu-style dairy.” Because this dish is rich in nutrition and symbolizes longevity and good fortune, it has been loved by people throughout history.

　　Longevity Soup – History and Culture

　　Longevity Soup and “Long Life Dish,” sister dishes made from the specialty ingredients of Jingmen — the turtle and hen — have a long history. As early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, banquets in the Chu Kingdom featured turtle and chicken dishes. These two dishes not only carry auspicious meanings but are also highly nutritious and exceptionally delicious, making them the second soup and main dish in birthday celebration banquets.

　　Both turtles and cranes are animals known for their long lifespans. The *Baopuzi·Duisu* (Master Who Embraces Simplicity · Responses to Popular Conceptions) states: “Knowing the long life of turtles and cranes, people emulate their exercises to prolong life.” The *Youxian Shi* (Poems of Immortal Travel) also contains the line: “I ask you mayflies, do you know the age of turtles and cranes?” Cooking turtle and chicken together has a long history. As early as the Warring States period, banquets in the Chu Kingdom featured dishes where chicken was used as a substitute for crane, combining turtle and chicken. The *Chu Ci·Da Zhao* (Songs of Chu · Great Summons) records: “Fresh large turtle and sweet chicken blended with Chu-style dairy.” Because this dish is rich in nutrition and symbolizes longevity and good fortune, it has been loved by people throughout history.

　　Longevity Soup – Recipe and Nutrition

　　Hen: Chicken meat has a relatively high protein content, with a variety of types, and is highly digestible, making it easy for the human body to absorb and utilize. It helps enhance physical strength and build up the body. Chicken contains phospholipids that play an important role in human growth and development, and is one of the important sources of fat and phospholipids in the Chinese diet. Chicken is very beneficial for malnutrition, cold intolerance, fatigue, irregular menstruation, anemia, and general weakness. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that chicken has the effects of warming the middle energizer, benefiting qi, nourishing deficiency, enriching essence, strengthening the spleen and stomach, activating blood vessels, and strengthening muscles and bones. There are many breeds of chicken, but for beauty purposes, black-bone chicken is considered the best. It has a sweet and warm nature, and contains protein, fat, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin A, vitamin C, cholesterol, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and other components. Black-bone chicken enters the kidney meridian, and has the effects of warming the middle energizer, benefiting qi, nourishing kidney and enriching essence, nourishing blood and blackening hair, and moisturizing the skin. It can be used as a tonic food for those suffering from consumptive thinness, sallow complexion, lack of facial luster, edema, diabetes, postpartum blood deficiency, and insufficient breast milk.

　　Turtle meat: It has strong nourishing power and is a health-promoting delicacy for nourishing yin and strengthening the body. It has the effects of nourishing yin and subduing yang, benefiting kidney and strengthening bones. It is used to treat dizziness and tinnitus caused by hyperactivity of liver yang, or weakness and flaccidity of the waist and legs, poor bone health due to kidney deficiency, and delayed closure of the fontanelle in children. In addition, turtle shell glue, which is sweet and salty in flavor and mild in nature, has better nourishing effects than turtle shell itself, and also has the effect of enriching blood and stopping bleeding. It is used to treat symptoms such as yin deficiency tidal fever, soreness and weakness of the waist and knees, anemia, and uterine bleeding. Turtle meat, which is sweet and salty in flavor and mild in nature, is particularly good at nourishing yin and enriching blood, benefiting kidney and enriching essence, and nourishing blood. It can be used as a nourishing tonic food for those suffering from prolonged illness, deficiency of essence and blood, thinness and fatigue, or consumptive cough with blood.