Nothing greater than a nice hot bowl of chicken soup in the winter to fight off the icy cold? Wrong! With these simple additions to Mom’s old soup recipe you’ll be a disease fighting superman, and even more prepared to tackle the shivers Mr. Freeze may blow your way.
My wife is Chinese and watching her cook is remarkable. The foods she makes are so full of natural medicines. I was eating a bowl of her chicken soup today and found a large chunk of ginger, (Zingiber officinale) which belongs to Zingiberaceae family, at the bottom of the bowl. It did not make the soup taste too strong or much different than my Jewish Mom’s soup. This is a really good idea for those cold overcast rainy days of fall or winter when viral, bacterial, and fungal infections start to become more prevalent.
Why? At this time of year many elderly people who travel to the Sunbelt are more active outdoors and are more susceptible to opportunistic fungal infections especially if they are taking or have been on chemotherapy regimen or immunosuppressive drugs.
Ginger is both anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. The ginger needs to stay in large chunks with only a couple of sides sliced so it does not make the soup too strong but the garlic needs to be chopped into fine pieces. The ginger will also aid in helping to settle an upset stomach and can alleviate nausea.
Another great adaptation of the age old medicinal chicken soup is to add chopped garlic at the end of cooking into the hot soup that has just been turned off after simmering for a while.
If you don't mind altering the taste of Mom's chicken soup somewhat, then for a more potent medicinal brew add the juice from 1 lime (C. aurantifolia Linn.) at the end. Lime added to garlic and ginger has been shown to inhibit many more potent kinds of microbes and pathogens.
Garlic is one of the strongest anti-microbial’s on our planet. Garlic can kill bacteria, viruses, and fungus; but it is only effective if it is raw. I like to add it at the end of cooking, that way it is semi raw and still able to kill off microbes but not be too strong for most people’s taste.
The lime, ginger, garlic combo has been shown to inhibit Staph infections (Staphylococcus aureus), Bacillus spp, E-Coli (Escherichia coli), and Salmonella poisoning (Salmonella spp)
With these simple additions to your favorite chicken soup recipe you'll be supplying your body with enhanced cold fighting power, and it also adds a delicious flavor that both children and adults can enjoy.
