Cough & Dry Throat
AT A GLANCE
The lingering cough after a cold, or a dry tickle in dry weather — the food tradition splits it warm or dry and answers with pears, lily bulb and gentle steam.
How the food tradition reads it
The tradition separates a cold-type cough (clear phlegm, worse with cold) from a dry-type cough (scratchy, little phlegm, worse in dry air). The warm type gets ginger and warmth; the dry type gets pear, lily bulb and loquat — "moistening the lung" is the phrase the old texts use.
TCM patterns for Cough & Dry Throat
The same concern can come from several different patterns, each with its own food approach. Find yours below — or tap through the self-check first.
TCM patterns for cough
The aim is to address the root cause, not just the symptom — tradition calls that root cause a “pattern.” The same concern can come from several different patterns, each with its own food approach. Tap the signs you notice (nothing is uploaded; it stays in your browser) to see which patterns the theory most associates with them.
Food directions you can try tonight
Steamed pear with rock sugar: pear topped, cored, sugar inside, steamed 20 minutes — the household default for a dry tickle.
Lily bulb & snow fungus soup: slow-simmered, lightly sweet, for the dry irritated throat.
Ginger & scallion tea: for the cold-type cough with clear phlegm — the warming counter-direction.
Safety & special considerations
A cough lasting more than two weeks, with blood, breathlessness or fever, needs medical care — the tradition says so too ("the doctor for the illness, the kitchen for the recovery").
