The Ultimate Medicinal Soup Stock
Food is medicine. And perhaps nothing nourishes our souls like a warm bowl of homemade soup. When the seasons are changing and there’s a cool crispness to the air, when the winter cold and flu viruses are ramping up, there’s no better time to take our soup-making to the next level. It’s time for our soups to nourish our immune systems as well. We can do this by making the Ultimate Medicinal Soup Stock. By consciously making our soups medicinal, that warm bowl of goodness can be a vehicle to promote and sustain health.
To begin with, what exactly is “stock”? Stock is the flavorful liquid preparation that is often added to soups, stews, or sauces. It typically has ingredients such as onions, celery, and carrots and is slow-cooked for several hours to make it rich and flavorful.
If you’re like me, “several hours” isn’t always possible, so don’t worry! The following instructions can be completed in about 45 minutes. If you have longer to let everything simmer, then all the better—please do. If not, it will still taste wonderful, be super flavorful, and be packed with medicinal goodness.
When making an Ultimate Medicinal Soup Stock, there is no set recipe to follow or a “right way” to do it. I will give you some guidelines and pointers below to help you create your own and outline why you might want to consider possible ingredients. You’ll want to experiment and adapt your recipe to suit your own palate and medicinal needs.
Do not be afraid! Just go for it. It’s hard to “mess up” a stock. Err on the side of putting too much of an ingredient in, or too many, and of making it too flavorful. If it’s ever truly too strong, you can always add less of it to your soup or dilute it with water.
How to Make Medicinal Soup Stock
There are so many different ingredients you can add to a tasty soup stock. Scroll down to see the five categories of nourishing ingredients I recommend.
Here’s what you’ll need…
- 1 to 2 handfuls of tough, woody ingredients (astragalus, lemongrass, etc.)
- 2 onions
- 1 head garlic
- Optional: more alliums to taste
- 2 handfuls fresh mushrooms
- 1/2 cup pungent herbs (ginger, turmeric, etc)
- Sea salt to taste
- Freshly-ground black pepper to taste
- Optional: 1 handful dried mushrooms
- Several stems of fresh culinary herbs (rosemary, thyme, etc.)
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- Decide which ingredients from each of the 5 categories above you’re going to use and gather them.
- Begin by making a decoction of all of your tough or “woody” ingredients—things that you know you’ll definitely want to strain out and not put into your finished soup or stew—such as reishi, astragalus, lemongrass, or other woody roots and herbs. Add 1 to 2 handfuls of these to a medium saucepan along with about 6 cups of water. Bring it to a good boil and boil for 20 to 30 minutes with the lid on if possible (or slightly askew if needed). Turn off the heat and allow it to sit and cool for at least 20 minutes. Strain off the liquid and set aside.
- While your woody ingredients are decocting, chop your generous amounts of onion, garlic, and alliums. Place the alliums in the bottom of a large soup pot over medium heat, and cook, stirring frequently, in a generous amount of your good-quality oil until translucent and/or cooked.
- Chop and add about 2 good handfuls of fresh mushrooms, 1/2 cup of your “zing factor” (ginger and/or turmeric with possibly a dash of cayenne), your sea salt to taste, and lots of fresh ground pepper. Cook for several minutes while stirring frequently.
- Pour in the liquid you decocted from your woody plant ingredients. Top with at least another 6 cups of water (or more if you feel the amount of ingredients you have and the pot you’re using will allow it). Add any dried mushrooms, if you’re using any, at this time. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer if you can. When you turn off the heat, toss in several stems of your fresh herbs. Allow these to steep as your stock cools. You may strain this once it’s cool enough to handle, and use just the liquid, or you can leave all the ingredients in it and simply continue with the rest of your soup or stew recipe.
Yield: ~9 cups of soup stock
Want to Learn More About Food as Medicine?
Check out our Culinary Herbalism series on HerbMentor. In Culinary Herbalism, K.P. Khalsa dives into the wonders of working with simple culinary herbs for incredible health benefits. You can find Culinary Herbalism on HerbMentor, which is LearningHerbs’ online herbal education hub and community.
How to Use
The liquid can be drunk as a broth. If you do this, try adding a spoonful of coconut oil to it to make it extra yummy and help bring all the flavors together. This is a great option if you are experiencing illness and your stomach isn’t feeling like it can tolerate solid food. Put it in a mug and sip it for a good-for-you meal-on-the-go.
The liquid can also be used as a stock, and can be used in your soup or stew preparation just like you would any stock or liquid added to your ingredients.
Or, you can leave all of the tender ingredients such as the mushrooms, onions, and garlic in it and simply add all of your other soup ingredients to it.
How to Store
Whatever you don’t use immediately can be stored in your refrigerator for three to four days. It also can be frozen for up to three months, so feel free to make extra! You’ll be doing yourself a favor by keeping some on hand for spur-of-the-moment cooking needs or for if you wake up one day feeling like you’re coming down with something. Your future self will thank you!
Ready to put your Ultimate Medicinal Soup Stock to use? Try this yummy Burdock Hot and Sour Soup recipe.
Allium Benefits: Onions, Garlic, Leeks, Scallions, Chives, Shallots
This genus of plants is the hallmark flavor of any good soup stock, and once you are aware of the amazing health benefits they have, you’ll want to add large amounts of them to all of your cooking whenever possible.
Alliums are intensely antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal. This is why they are key ingredients in so many home remedies. They are decongestants, expectorants, and antitussives. Garlic, in particular, is excreted via the lungs, bowels, skin, and urinary system, disinfecting them all in the process.1 What an amazing medicine to have easy access to every single day in our kitchen!
I encourage you to not be shy with our Allium friends. If you typically add one onion to your soups, try adding two. If you typically add five or six cloves of garlic, try adding a whole large head! While raw onions and garlic can be overpowering, this isn’t the case when they are cooked. When was the last time you ate something cooked that had too much onion or garlic? If you’re having a hard time remembering, it’s because it rarely happens. So don’t be shy—in fact, be bold—add two onions, or three! Add an entire head of garlic. See what happens and know you are eating some of the best medicine available in your kitchen.
Mushroom Benefits: Shiitake, Reishi, Maitake, Lion’s Mane, and More
Used since ancient times and well-documented in scientific studies, the healing powers of mushrooms is unparalleled. They are nutritious and delicious too.2
Fortunately, shiitake, one of the best medicinal powerhouses, can now commonly be found fresh in many grocery stores. It has been studied for its anticarcinogenic properties and as being hepatoprotective while promoting heart health, being immune-modulating, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and an antioxidant as well.3
Reishi will come in a dried form. It has been called the “mushroom of immortality” and has been used as a tonic and strengthening medicine for thousands of years. It is also known to strengthen our immune system.4 Be sure to check the instructions above for adding reishi and other tough/woody ingredients to your stock. And make sure to use a smaller amount of reishi in your mushroom medley because reishi’s flavor is intensely bitter.
Other species, such as maitake, oyster, lion’s mane, or chicken of the woods are more likely to be bought either dried or, when in season, fresh from farmers markets.
Spicy Herbal Benefits: Turmeric, Ginger, Lemongrass, and Cayenne
After your foundation of onions and garlic and the flavorful addition of medicinal mushrooms, you’ll be ready to add some zing. Consider one or all of the following.
Turmeric is anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and good for many of the things that might ail you.5
Ginger, also antimicrobial, has an affinity for the throat and lungs. It’s a warming, circulatory stimulant that breaks up congestion and fever during colds and flu.6
Lemongrass, especially when available fresh, is another wonderful, aromatic stock addition with anti-inflammatory and antibacterial qualities.7
And cayenne, rich in vitamin C, is also a circulatory stimulant that helps to decongest the lungs. Don’t overdo this one in the stock. Add just enough to give it a hint of warmth. You can always add more to your recipe later if you desire.
Foundational Herbal Benefits: Astragalus, Echinacea, and More
The possibilities here are endless: many tried-and-true medicinal allies can also be added to your stock. You’ll want to lean more toward woody roots and herbs that can withstand being decocted, or simmered for a long time, while still maintaining their medicinal qualities.
Some great options are astragalus with its immunomodulating effects, ashwagandha with its adaptogenic qualities, or echinacea with its ability to stimulate immune response.
Often, these herbs aren’t the most palatable of flavors, but they can be easily camouflaged when combined with the flavorful and aromatic onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and culinary herbs that make up the rest of the stock.
Fresh Culinary Herbal Benefits: Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, and More
By “culinary herbs,” I’m referring to traditional cooking spices such as rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, or parsley. By referring to them as such, I am by no means discounting them as the powerful medicinal beings they are.
Rosemary is antibacterial and antifungal. It enhances the immune system with its strong volatile oils. It’s a circulatory and nervine stimulant, catalyzing movement during times of stagnancy or sluggishness.
Thyme is a strong antiseptic, especially when it comes to respiratory infection, coughs, and sore throats. It, too, is antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal.
Oregano is traditionally used to treat respiratory issues such as stuffy noses and coughs. It is an expectorant with potent antimicrobial properties. It helps treat colds and flus and breaks up bronchitis.
Basil is a strong antioxidant with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.8
Parsley is a source of vitamin C and a liver cleanser.
Fresh culinary herbs can be added straight on the stalk to your stock. There’s no need to tediously de-leaf and cut them. There tends to be much good flavor (and medicinal qualities as well) in the stalks of herb plants, so why not add them? The stalks can then be easily pulled out of the liquid or strained after they have simmered.
Finishing Touches Benefits: Salt, Freshly Ground Pepper, and More
A natural, unrefined salt such as Himalayan pink salt or sea salt can add up to 84 trace minerals that your body needs.
Much research has been done on the phytochemistry of black pepper and its unique pharmacological actions. It increases the bioavailabilty of both nutrients and herbal remedies. The Materia Medica of Ayurveda, dating back to 6,000 BCE, has many references advocating its use for a variety of ailments including respiratory disease and fever.9 Black pepper should be freshly ground in order to capture as much of its attributes as possible into your culinary creations.
Add a good-quality fat or oil; our bodies need this in our diet to aid hormone function, memory, and absorption of certain nutrients. Fats round out flavors and help create a sense of fullness. They also slow down the digestion of carbohydrates.
Here are some frequently asked questions about soup stock…
What “food waste” can I add to my soup stock?
Add onion skins, herb stems, edible mushroom stems, vegetable scraps, veggie peels, and other food scraps to a soup stock. You’ll want to strain out these tough ingredients before consuming the stock, but they impart a very nice flavor to the stock—taking you straight to flavor town! If you want to save up your veggie scraps, you can store them in the freezer and then use these frozen vegetable scraps when you have enough to add to a vegetable stock. This vegetable-based stock makes a great addition to vegan cooking and cooking with meat too.
Can I use a slow cooker for making my soup stock?
Yes, you can! It will of course take longer to make your soup stock with a slow cooker, but it will taste just as delicious. Follow the directions on the slow cooker to make sure you’re using it properly as you adapt this recipe. Enjoy your homemade vegetable broth cooked with this slower method!
Footnotes
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