The coronavirus offers us the opportunity to recognize the importance of a healthy immune system. Soups are a gateway to healthy eating. We make soups from nearly any ingredients, including fruit, which are then often served as an appetizer or a first-course selection.

Maybe it’s the work that goes into making them or only the nutritional quality that makes them especially appealing, but either way, they offer the essence of comfort and connection. They stretch a food budget and are often the first choice for healing from a sickness, or prevent ill health. The latter is what inspired me to share Hippocrates Soup.

We need to go back 2500 years for Hippocrates, the “father of medicine” to invent this soup once cooking vessels were invented that didn’t leak. You may have heard his quote ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. He used a scientific method to determine what worked in medicine.

In recent decades we’ve moved from food as medicine to using chemicals as medicine. Eating food has often become “something that we also do.” This soup, however, is the basis of healing for people with immune function diseases, including cancer. It can be tweaked with other ingredients, but this basic soup is for the immune system and kidney health.

Hippocrates Soup

Ingredients: Makes about 4 qts.)

1 (3-4 stalks) medium celery root, fibers removed, chopped

1/4 bunch of fresh parsley (or 1 medium root if available)

1 ½ pounds tomatoes

1 small leek or 2 medium onions

2 medium onions (additional to leeks)

1 lb potatoes, chopped

4-5 garlic cloves

1 cup carrots

Method:

1. Wash thoroughly, but do not peel any of the vegetables.

2. Coarsely chop vegetables.

3. Place all ingredients in a 5 qt. kettle.

4. Cover with filtered water and simmer for 2-3 hours.

5. Reserving the liquid, drain, and put the vegetables through a food mill. Compost the exhausted vegetables.

6. Combine the milled vegetables and liquids. Cover. Eat immediately or keep in the refrigerator for 2 days.

The amount of added liquid can vary the thickness of the soup.

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