To Your Health
December, 2007 (Vol. 01, Issue 12)
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The Healing Power of Soup

By Zhenya K. Wine

As the weather gets colder, nothing warms the soul like homemade soup. From a health perspective, many of the classic favorites now include organic vegetables and whole grains. Find out why these comfort foods should be a staple in your winter diet.

"Have some chicken soup" is what we hear from our friends and family when they find out we are sick with a cold or flu. After putting up a small fight, we agree that soup sounds good at a time when nothing else seems to taste good. It is our body's natural disposition to heal itself, and chicken soup, according to numerous studies, is a substance that will help our ailing bodies to create an environment that aids in the process.

According to an article published by the Nebraska Medical Center, there is evidence that "chicken soup might have an anti-inflammatory activity, namely, the inhibition of neutrophil migration." Neutrophils are white blood cells that are found in abundance when we are sick, especially when there is a bacterial infection. These cells travel to the infection site and attack the offending organisms in order to neutralize them. The study shows that the presence of chicken soup in the tube excites these white blood cells and makes them more aggressive. Although it is unclear what components of the chicken soup are responsible for the action, researchers concluded, "Chicken soup may contain a number of substances with beneficial medicinal activity. A mild anti-inflammatory effect could be one mechanism by which the soup could result in the mitigation of symptomatic upper respiratory tract infections."

 In other countries, soup is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is a filling, inexpensive type of comfort food that exists in all cultures. Soups are complex in their preparation due to the multiple steps that have to be taken in a correct order and with proper product combination in each step. In this article, I would like to teach you some of the basic concepts in soup preparation so that the soups you create always come out right.

Woman stirring soup that she is cooking. - Copyright – Stock Photo / Register Mark We will begin with the stock, which is the most important part of the soup. Why, you may ask? The reason is simple. By boiling fish, beef, chicken or any other animal flesh, we are extracting the products that are contained in that flesh. For that reason, Oriental and European cooks will do the following:

One: Select products that have various components leached out of them: bones, skin, cartilage, meat. I examine the products I use in soups with great care because of this extraction. To this day, I buy only organic or wild meat and fish, and I find out how the animals were raised, fed and slaughtered. Kosher butchering assures you that no blemishes are present in your stock and that the most humane methods of butchering were used. When the chicken is boiled whole rather than just using the breast meat (in Europe and Asia, they include the feet, neck and gizzards in their stock), you will see a greater amount of collagen in the soup and, generally speaking, the soup will have a stronger smell and flavor.

Two: Throw away the first-boiled fluid. The first water boils the imperfections and processing fluids out of the meat or fish. Place the meat or fish into a small amount of water and bring it to a boil. For meat, boil it for 10 minutes ( for fish, 5 minutes). Then pour the water out, wash the meat or fish, place it back into the pot of cold water and simmer for 5-8 hours. Next, add spices (sea salt, onion, bay leaf, peppercorns, etc.) to flavor the broth. Simply strain the broth and use it for the soup, or reserve it for further preparation. The meat or fish you strained out can be used in other recipes or in the soup you are preparing, although it is generally believed that the meat itself does not have any healing properties and is used only to flavor the soup.