Sweet Anti-inflammatory Aloe Vera Soup with Corn and Honey Dates

This post was first written in July 2017, and improvised in 2022.

I got this recipe idea from a dried food grocer in the wet market. He was grumbling about his bitter aloe vera soup, and I didn’t know we can use aloe vera to make soup. All he added was the chicken carcass to prepare the soup base and added aloe vera as the other ingredient. Aloe vera by itself is bitter. And there is no way we can add sugar to the soup because this is not a dessert.

So as we chit-chatted, we thought of adding more ingredients into the soup. That was how this aloe vera with sweet corn soup comes about.

The key ingredients are in the picture below.

As usual, I will briefly touch on the benefits of the essential ingredients.

Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is best known for its healing of the skin and wounds. Its juice is popular nowadays as drinking it regularly strengthens one’s immune system, delays the ageing process, prevents diabetes, inhibits cancerous growth, heals the side effects of radiotherapy treatments and promotes hair growth. Well, we are using aloe vera shampoo and conditioner these days. Click here detailed explanation by organicfacts.net. Pregnant women should avoid taking aloe vera as it may cause uterine contractions.

Sweet Corn

Corn not only reduces the risk of cancer, but the fibre in the corn kernel also helps alleviate digestive problems and reduces the chances of irritable bowel syndrome. Like the tomato, cooking the kernels increases the amount of usable antioxidants which act as anti-carcinogenic agents.

Taste-wise, I have tried three types of corns to conceal the bitterness from the aloe vera, namely the yellow corn, white corn and the white and yellow corn. The white and yellow corn works the best because it is the sweetest of all three. In Singapore, we typically source the white and yellow sweet corn from Cameron Highlands Malaysia. See post by organicfacts.net for more information.

Hawthorn

Hawthorn is known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It may also reduce blood pressure and blood cholesterol level. Together with corn, hawthorn improves one’s digestive system.

Honey Dates

Update in February 2022 – We add honey dates into the soup these days to give the soup more sweetness and we no longer taste any bitterness in the soup. Honey dates are full of goodness. It contains calcium and phosphorus that will strengthen bones and is anti-inflammatory.

Ingredients

2 Corns on the Cob

1 or 2 skinned stalks of aloe vera, cut into large chunks

Two large carrots

Hawthorn (about 5 grams)

3 Litres of water

Half an organic chicken, skin removed

2 honey dates

Method

Blanch chicken and transfer to a soup pot of boiling water. We use affordable organic chickens from Kee Song that are bred without antibiotics and growth hormones.

Add hawthorn and honey dates into the pot.

Peel carrots and corn. Cut them into large chunks and add to the chicken soup to simmer for 2 hours.

These days we use a pressure cooker instead of simmering over the stove. The soup comes out super flavourful while cooking time shortens.

Peel the aloe vera stalk and cut the flesh into big pieces. You may wish to use just one stalk for the first time to decide whether it is too bitter for you.

Add the chunky aloe vera flesh 15 minutes before serving. Long period of cooking the aloe vera will destroy the vitamins in it, and will cause the flesh to become meshy and disintegrate into the soup.

Bring the soup to a boil and simmer over the stove for another 15 minutes. Cooking time shortens if you use a pressure cooker.

The soup is ready to serve, add salt to taste.