Steam White fungus and pear drink

According to the Chinese Sinseh, this is very good for the lung and for cough. Was asked by the Chinese Sinseh to boil everyday for my daughter who is coughing and have a lot of phlegm. According to record, white fungus contains a large amount of collagen and is very good for woman. (白木耳富有天然植物性胶质，加上它的滋阴作用，长期服用是良好的润肤佳品。) It is sometimes called the poor man's bird's nest.
Apparently the white fungus must be cooked till it becomes sticky to be effective, from my experience, it will not become sticky even after 30 minutes of steaming. So I come up with a lazy method of getting the sticky stuff out.
First, soak the white fungus (about 30 minutes, you can just leave it there anyway.), then boil some water, enough to more or less cover the fungus. Place the white fungus in the inner pot of a thermo pot and pour in the boiled water. Heat the pot till the water just boil. Place the inner pot into the thermo pot and leave it overnight. The next morning, you will find the white fungus becomes very sticky. Keep in a container and store in the fridge.
Now you are ready to cook the white fungus and pear drink.


White fungus and pear drink

Ingredients 

white fungus (enough to fill half a medium sized corning ware pot)

a pear (ya li 鸭梨　or gong li　贡梨)

rock sugar (to taste)
Method 

1. Place the white fungus in the corning ware pot. (or your own utensil for steaming)
2. Add boiling water to cover the white fungus. If you like to drink more water, then you can add more water. 

3. Add the rock sugar.

4. Place in the steamer, steam for 30 minutes.
5. Cut the pear into cubes (This will increase the surface area and hence increase rate of reaction!)

6. Put the pear into the pot after the 30 minutes, steam for another 20 minutes.