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Cool Down With Summer Soup

Summer soup cools you down.

When it comes to meals made perfect for summer, don’t let the hot temps steer you away from soup.

Hot Soup Cools the Body

It seems like a contradiction in terms, doesn’t it?  But hot soup can actually cool our bodies down on warm days. Scientists who study sweating have proven what happens when we consume temperature hot foods. Our stomachs pick up on that heat and release it through sweating to cool the body down. With spicy foods, it’s the capsaicin, the active ingredient in a chili that fires up the senses in our mouth and causes gustatory sweating around the head and the neck.

Soup Around the World

All around the world, soups reflect local flavors that add heat to cool eaters down. In Thailand and India, curry is a mainstay. In Korea, they believe “fight fire with fire” and serve steaming hot bowls of chicken and ginseng soup. Thanks to Vietnam, we have delicious pho which is often served with jalapenos. And, New England is reported to have the first summer soup in the U.S., corn chowder.

Soup is pure liquid goodness like a blank canvas waiting for your creativity to flow. Served hot or cold, creamy or brothy, spicy or mild, you can pick your meat, veggies and grains, and suddenly you have a balanced meal in a bowl. There are unlimited ways to make soup with fresh, in-season, affordable ingredients.

Ditch Canned Soup

To keep soup healthy and balanced, nothing beats homemade. You have control of the ingredients versus the ridiculously-high sodium levels and other hard-to-pronounce-processed items in the canned versions. Plus, you can make larger amounts to last through the week.

So, what’s for dinner at your table tonight? Will your blank canvas include something chilled or piping hot?

American psychologist Abraham Maslow once said, “A first-rate soup is more creative than a secondrate painting.”

I’ll share a first-rate hot soup recipe on my next segment that is sure to cool you down. Don’t miss it.