Immune Boosting Soup Broths
Let food food by thy medicine and medicine by thy food. Hippocrates
I am a strong proponent of that age old adage by Hippocrates (431 B.C.), and what better way can there be to introduce medicinal herbs into the diet than to incorporate them effortlessly into delicious foods.
The fall and winter months lend well to hot soup broths, and I highly recommended taking in a cup a day of broth that incorporate medicinal herbs with a long-history (and a growing body of modern research) of supporting the immune system during this challenging time of the year.
Astragalus is the recommended herb of choice in all recipes given its strong immune boosting qualities and bland taste that makes it palatable to even the most picky eaters. Medicinal mushrooms including culinary Reishi (trust me, you really don’t want to use the more potent varieties for your soup broth), shitaike, maitake, and turkey tail further support the immune system and add a nice taste to the recipes.
The only catch here is that these recipes are geared for preventative purposes only (including the initial stage of an upper respiratory infection like the cold or flu where you can consider upping the dosage). If you are experiencing or recovering from something acute you are going to want a variation as astragulus works best solely as a preventative agent (my colleague Jade Alicandro Mace, a community herbalist up in the Pioneer Valley (Greenfield and Northhampton, MA) has given me some recipes for those purposes which will be sharing in future posts).
I have chosen vegetarian recipes to accommodate everyone’s dietary preferences but for an added health benefit you can also combine (organic) meat/poultry, or wild caught fish bones.
Jade Alicandro Mace’s variation
Building up the immune system and preventing illness
Don’t use if you have signs that you are already sick
Astragulus in NOT intended for acute illness
Ingredients
8 Cups of Water (Can Substitute with Bone, Vegetable, or Miso Broth)
2 T Astragulus Root Slices (Cook in a small muslin bag or cheesecloth bundle for easy removal)
2 T Nettles Leaf
1 T Shitaike or Turkey Tail Mushrooms (Cook Turkey Tail in a small muslin bag or cheesecloth bundle for easy removal)
1 T (or 3 T Fresh) Mixture of Rosemary, Thyme, and Sage
1 T Garlic and/or Ginger
1 tsp. Seaweed of Choice
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in liquid of choice
Assume all ingredients are dried unless stated otherwise
Boil and then simmer for 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours
Feel free to add vegetables or meat if making this into a soup
How to Use
Drink 1 Cup/Daily as a Preventative
Drink 3 Cups/Daily if you are “coming down with something”
Broth can be strained, used as the basis or a soup and/or frozen.
Rebecca Snow’s, MS, CNS, LDN, RH (AHG) variation:
Building up the immune system and preventing illness
Don’t use if you have signs that you are already sick
Astragulus in NOT intended for acute illness
Ingredients
1 Gallon (or 15 Cups of Water)
1 T Shiitake, Maitake, or culinary Reishi Mushrooms
10 pressed roots of Astragulus or ½ Cup of Astragulus of dried, cut, and sifted root
1 Bulb of garlic
1 Onion chopped with skin
2 Sweet Potatoes or Yams with skin, chopped
3 – 4 Carrots, chopped
3 -4 Celery Stalks, chopped
1 Beet, chopped
2 palm size pieces of dried kelp
1 T of dried herbs (oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, and/or bay leaf)
1 tsp. Sea Salt
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large pot
Simmer for 12 – 24 hours
Strain out the solid ingredients
Feel free to add vegetables or meat if making this into a soup
How to Use
Can be used as the basis for a future soup
Can be used as a hot drink
Combine with Miso, Coconut or Bragg’s Aminos as desired for taste
Can be frozen and reused throughout the fall and winter
Does anyone else here have any immune boosting recipes that you would like to share? I would enjoy hearing everyone’s feedback on this topic.