Yam and pork ribs are not cooked together. Generally, the pork ribs are cooked first and then the yam, because the pork ribs are more difficult to stew, while the yam is easier to stew. Yam stewed with pork ribs is a tonic soup. The main ingredients are yam and pork ribs, and the main cooking technique is stewing.

Yam generally refers to yam, and the tuber is the commonly used traditional Chinese medicine "Huaiyam". The tuber is rich in starch and can be eaten as a vegetable. Distributed in North Korea, Japan and China; in China, distributed in Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guizhou, northern Yunnan, Sichuan, eastern Gansu and southern Shaanxi. Grows in shrubs or weeds on hillsides, valleys, streams, roadsides.