Instructions: Pour enough warm water over the white fungus in a small bowl to cover it completely. Soak until softened, about 20 minutes. Drain and cut off the yellow stem. Tear the fungus into bite-size pieces.

Place the white fungus, water, rock sugar, dates, gingko nuts and lotus seeds in a 1 1/2-quart heatproof bowl. Prepare a wok for steaming. Set the bowl in the steamer basket, cover the wok and steam over low heat, replenishing the water in the wok as necessary, until the tea has a pleasant, sweet flavor, about 1 1/2 hours. Serve in small soup bowls.

This recipe yields 4 servings.

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