Articles

Chicken Soup

By Tanya Carwyn

The many faces of chicken soup

Aptly referred to as “Jewish penicillin”, many a sniffling nose finds some relieve in the steam rising up from a hot bowl of home made chicken soup. Turns out chicken soup in not just comfort food or food for your soul, it is in fact an actual health food. Chicken soup, the old stand by for children, convalescents and any one who wants a quick and tasty pick-me-up, deserves a closer look.

Health Benefits:

A 12th century physician named Moses Maimonides first prescribed chicken soup as a cold and asthma remedy, and its therapeutic properties have been studied by a host of medical experts in recent decades.

Irwin Ziment, M.D., pulmonary specialist and professor at the UCLA School for Medicine, says chicken soup contains drug-like agents similar to those in modern cold medicines. For example, an amino acid released from chicken during cooking chemically resembles the drug acetylcysteine, prescribed for bronchitis and other respiratory problems. Spices that are often added to chicken soup, such as garlic and pepper (all ancient treatments for respiratory diseases), work the same way as modern cough medicines, thinning mucus and making breathing easier.

Another theory, put forth by Stephen Rennard, M.D., chief of pulmonary medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, is that chicken soup acts as an anti-inflammatory. The soup, he says, keeps a check on inflammatory white blood cells (neutrophils). Cold symptoms, such as coughs and congestion, are often caused by inflammation produced when neutrophils migrate to the bronchial tubes and accumulate there.

It all starts with stock

Have you ever seen small deep yellow droplets of fat floating on top of a hot bowl of chicken soup? If you haven't ,you have never had a real chicken soup. Those little droplets are not just small pearls of heavenly flavor, they are little packages of the fat soluble vitamins vitamins A and D.

It is not possible to make a good chicken soup with out starting with a good broth. And making high quality chicken broth is a very simple process. You start with a left over chicken carcass from a roasted chicken dinner or a whole uncooked chicken. Put the carcass or whole chicken in a pot, cover generously with cold water, add a splash of apple cider vinegar (this draws the minerals from the bones) and bring it to a boil. Skim any froth that comes to the top and discard. Lower the heat and continue to simmer for at least 6 hours but preferably overnight (a slow cooker works great). After about 3 hours or so you may want to take the chicken out of the broth, cool it enough so you can handle it and remove much of the meat from the bones. Freeze or refrigerate until need and return the bones, skin, and grizzle to the stock and continue to simmer. Stock made from organic (preferably pastured) animals) is a true health food and can be made even more healing and strengthening by the addition of certain medicinal plants such as garlic, ginger, onions, astragulus root and codonopsis root. The last two are plants use in Traditional Chinese Medicine and can be found in many health food stores. Simply simmer them in the stock and strain out. To read more about the many benefits of a well made stock see the bone broth article on our website.

Soup's On

Making chicken soup is very easy if you have stock on hand. Save all chicken bones from our families dinners in the freezer and once you have collected enough cook them into broth. Freeze the broth so you always have some on hand. Most prepared chicken soups freeze very well also, but don't try it with milk or coconut based soups, they may curdle when defrosted. While chicken noodle soup is an old stand by, when boredom hits you might want to try some of our other recipes as well.

Simplest Chicken Soup

Your basic chicken soup contains no more that a great stock, some chicken meat, onion, carrot, garlic and celery with a dash of seasalt and pepper. Cooked brown rice or noodles can be added if wanted or you can bulk it up by adding root vegetables such as parsnip, turnip, or potato. Simply simmer the ingredients in the broth for 15 minutes or until tender.

Souped Up Soup:

I have found chicken soup the perfect vehicle to get my family to consume large amounts of vegetables. Somehow if it is cooked in chicken soup they all love it. So I usually load up my soup with veggies. In addition to carrots and celery I add loads of garlic, finely cut leeks ( some of the green as well) and shredded kale. The kale is only simmered in the broth for 5-10 minutes and retains is bright green color. Make sure it is cut finely and you will find most reluctant kale eaters will be happy to part take of this massively nutritious veggie. A few tablespoons of chopped parsley is also nice.
 

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

To the already great nutrition of chicken soup, we now add the qualities of coconuts as well. Coconuts contain large amounts of lauric acid, which is proven to be antiviral (buh-bye flu), among other things.

Mix your chicken broth with an equal amount of coconut milk (do not use the Lite versions, you want the healthy fats coconuts have to offer). Bring to a simmer and add chicken meat, a few slices of ginger, garlic, onion, carrots, mushrooms and some chopped bok choi or napa cabbage. Simmer until veggies are tender and ad juice of 1 or 2 limes and a tiny bit of thai green curry paste. Great served over cooked rice or rice noodles.
 

Latin American Chicken Soup

Add to your stock, cooked chicken, a large amount of garlic, a red pepper, some leek, some carrot, diced potato, a head of broccoli cut in to florets and a few cups of corn (use frozen if out of season). If you have time saute the onions, garlic, leeks and carrot in some olive oil first until they start to color a bit. Simmer until potato is cooked and then add some milk and cream. Serve with chopped cilantro and sprinkle with cheddar or queso blanco. Add a few dashes of tabasco sauce (add a bit more if you have a cold)