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Soup of the season
By ANGELA KELLY10/11/2006
WHEN the temperature drops and winter is definitely on the way,
warm up the whole family and keep them in good health with a super
soup!
Soups really are wonderfully comforting and nourishing. They
fortify the body, soothe sore throats, clear clogged airways, fight
off colds and build strong bones.
Their reputation as a health-giving elixir is so well-known that
chicken soup is often called Jewish penicillin. In fact, scientists
have spent time and money examining the actions of chicken soup on
colds and flu - and discovered that it has definite
anti-inflammatory properties.
The Chinese have been treating illnesses with soups for centuries.
Britain's beef tea has an ancient reputation for healing and the
Russians understandably cling to their borscht.
In other words, soups are exactly the right winter food to keep
everyone happy and active during the chilliest days.
The foundation for all good soups is a good stock and stock or
broth is best made by slowly simmering the bones, flesh and skins
of animals or fish with vegetables like onions and carrots. Or use
a vegetarian stock cube or vegetables alone if you prefer. The
stocks themselves are very nutritious - slow simmering extracts the
minerals of bone, marrow and vegetables as electrolytes, which is a
form that is easy for us to assimilate.
Gelatine is another important element of stock. This is highly
digestible, contains amino acids and works with other protein
sources like meat or eggs, building and maintaining cartilage,
ligaments, tendons and connective tissue, as well as promoting
healthy skin and hair.
There are plenty of health-giving properties in everything from
lentil soups, pea and ham soups, coconut and fish soups, curried
soups and onion soups, to give just a few examples. And the fresher
the ingredients the better.
Tomatoes, for example, are full of lycopene and Vitamin C, which
are both antioxidants. Onions and garlic are common ingredients in
soup and are well-known for their anti-bacterial and anti-viral
effects.
One useful soup addition is oregano, containing thymol and
carvacrol - ingredients also found in thyme - which help loosen
phlegm in the lungs and relieve spasms in the bronchial passages.
No wonder, then, that many commercial cough remedies contain
thymol.
But the reality of soups is that they are economically and
practically the finest of foods in cold weather. "The great thing
about soups is that you can use so many different ingredients,
they're cheap and easy to make and very satisfying", insists North
West masterchef and best-selling cookery book author Tom
Bridge.
He has been making soups - traditional and regional types - for
more than 35 years and has discovered some enduring favourites,
both from his travels and from what he has enjoyed making in his
own kitchen.
"Scotch Broth, for example, is a firm family favourite with us - it
really tastes of Scotland and gives you the feeling of being in the
glens, watching the salmon jumping. It warms the cockles of your
heart!"
And, as Manchester Primary Care Trust community dietician Ray Green
points out, you don't boil away the vitamins and minerals in a
soup, you keep them in.
"You can also use up older vegetables in a good soup," adds Ray,
"and by using the vegetables in season you've got a very cheap meal
which will also freeze to give you more meals.
"It's very important to keep to a balanced diet in winter, whether
it's having hot or cold food. But soups do offer warming
nourishment when the temperature drops."
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