Winter melon soup is one of my favorite soups. I find it extremely nourishing and cooling, especially now that I am down with a cold. Winter melon has a very mild taste so it’s hard to make it into a flavorful soup unless you add in extra ingredients. Other than pork ribs, I boil my winter melon soup with a trio of dried seafood: dried scallops, oysters, and shrimp. To rid the potential “fishy” taste in the soup, I add some freshly cracked white peppercorns to spice up the flavor. Another secret ingredient that I always use in Chinese soups is dried honey date or 蜜枣, an inexpensive that lends a subtle and sweet fruity note to soups…

The Cantonese believe that soups are “tonic” and rejuvenating. There is a saying in Cantonese that “women need to take tonic or else they will age fast” (女人不补很易老). I am a firm believer and will share more soup recipes with you here on Rasa Malaysia.
(Click Page 2 for the Winter Melon Soup Recipe)
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Thanks for sharing this winter melon soup recipe. I often make this soup but find the taste very bland because the winter melon has no taste. Will try your recipe.
Oh I remember this soup in my younger days. My mum used to make them. I usually eat everything and leave the porky bits to her. (I don’t like pork.)
Anyway, I was just thinking the other day that you should make this because of your fever, my other fav cooling soup is watercress soup. Hope you feel better soon.
Melon soup is also my favorite, Bee! I love dried scallops, gives it sweetness. In Hong Kong, the restaurants serve this inside the melon and when they crack it open, it’s truly heavenly!
Eleanor, you are right, I remember seeing this soup inside the huge melon. Thanks for reminding me of that. YUM!
Take care Bee.. this is a great way of getting in more fluids!! Hugs
Hi …I love these latest recipes .. and this soup is great .. I aim to do .. hugs …MARIMI
I’ve never cooked with winter melon and am now very intrigued and wonder if I’ve ever eaten it. Thanks for sharing.
Gotta say that winter melon soup is also one my favorites. Besides pork bones, I usually just add dried red dates and gojiberries but have never tried the combination of dried seafoods with this soup. Thanks for the idea!
I love coming to your site and seeing dishes that seem familiar and yet I know I’ve never had it. This winter melon soup isn’t something I’ve grown up eating, but I would love to try making it now.
Whenever I feel sick, I make ginger tea (with lots of honey!)
Ginger tea is awesome. I am addicted to it now as I am sick. :)
A favorite soup of mine (along with lotus root soup). So easy to make and so comforting. Make mine with alsmost same ingredients, not having tried it with dried oysters. Usually cook it in the crockpot.
This is definitely one of my favourite soups! Brings back wonderful memories of growing up. Looks delicious!
I just discovered winter melon!! I’m using it in a homemade sorbet I’m entering in Paula Deen’s cooking contest. It’s going on now, I think there are only a few weeks left to enter. It’s called the Real Women of Philadelphia (like the cream cheese)…I’m using CREAM CHEESE in my sorbet recipe!!! Everyone hop on the band wagon and join me in the competition!
Oh Bee! I love winter melon soup! There was a Chinese restaurant in Madison where I went to college that served it. No fancy dried oysters of course, just lean bits of ham. How authentic is that? Maybe I’ll bust out the dried shrimp and see how it goes. Thanks!
Yes, ham would be great for this soup. Thanks for reminding me of that. :)
Am making this soup now! Thanks for the recipes and i appreciate the instructions on how much time to boil and such as it is always tricky… i can smell it now, i am sure it will be yummy!
and… instead of the honey dates, which is very hard to find in where i live, i am using tiny dried figs instead (the ones you can get at wine stores). Hope it turns out good!
Yes, I use dried figs sometimes but I still prefer honey dates. :)
I made this soup today, I used chicken broth that I made myself instead of pork ribs, also skipped the red date and dried oysters. I used 5 scallops and some Chinese ham. I added one tbsp of dried shrimps as per your recipe and it tasted great! Thanks for reminding me of that. Will try out other recipes in your blog too!
Hi thanks for the recipe, I love this soup! Is there a good substitute for the pork ribs? My family doesn’t eat pork (so unfortunate!)
You can use chicken drumsticks.
How do I make this in a slow cooker?