Eating with the seasons comes with a host of benefits. Not only does seasonal produce taste better but is more nutritionally dense!
Eating with the seasons allows you to be creative with your food, reduces your carbon footprint and leaves a little extra money in your wallet and helps you form a connection with your community.
- More nutrient dense
- Better taste and quality
- Reduces carbon footprint
- More affordable
- Creates a connection with the community
CHANGE OF SEASON BROTH RECIPE
The change of season can bring some unwanted immune issues. The lungs, in particular, are especially vulnerable to colds and flu at this time of year. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory the lungs are responsible for both temperature regulation and immune function. This means that during change of season your lungs are preoccupied with adjusting your body to changing external temperatures leaving less resources to support your immune system and protect you from respiratory viruses.
A go-to solution for a strong immune system this time of year is a big bowl of change of season broth. This traditional immune system tonic has been used by herbalists and TCM practitioners for hundreds of years to ease the body into a new season. It is a Chinese herbal blend that improves resistance to colds and flu and also helps to balance the body during periods of stress. The original recipe is a combination of 4 “tonifying” herbs that helps your body acclimatize to new temperatures by strengthening the lungs and boosting the immune system. You can source the following herbs from a herb dispensary, or your local health food store:
- Codonopsis root.
- Astragalus root.
- Dioscorea (Chinese yam) root.
- Chinese Lycii berries (goji berries.
- Although effective, the herbs used in this soup are frankly quite unappealing on their own. To improve the taste here’s some tasty additions in the soup.
Change Of Season Broth
This recipe contains warming spices and aromatics to improve flavour, along with medicinal mushrooms and nurturing bone broth for added immune system benefits.
Ingredients
- 1 cup shiitake mushrooms (dried or fresh)
- 8 cloves of garlic, chopped in half
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
- 2 large carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 Tbsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup Codonopsis root
- 1/4 cup Astragalus root
- 1/4 cup Dioscorea (Chinese yam) root
- 1/4 cup Chinese Lycii berries (goji berries)
- 2L chicken broth
- 2L filtered water
Instructions
Add the chopped garlic, onion, mushrooms, celery and carrots to a large stock pot along with turmeric powder & salt and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until the onion and celery are slightly translucent. Fill the stock pot with 2L water + 2L of chicken broth or homemade bone broth then add the traditional change of season herbs to the pot. Place the lid on and bring to a boil and simmer for 4 to 6 hours. Using a slotted spoon, or strainer, remove the herbs and vegetables from the pot. At this point you can drink it as a broth but it’s tastiest when used as a base for soup recipes: You can reheat with extra bone broth in a 1:1 ratio along with some chopped veg, shiitake mushrooms and pulled rotisserie chicken.
Written By:
Michael Reid
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