I woke up yesterday with a cold so I thought it would be a good time to share my favorite and super effective cold remedy. A few years ago I read this article in Vogue about Dr Daphne Miller who has a integrative primary care practice in San Francisco. I see a Naturopath as my primary doctor and her approach resonated with me. My favorite part of the article was this: "Patients who come to Miller for relief from the sniffles get a "prescription" for mushroom-ginger soup. She points out that ginger is an excellent decongestant, and there's scientific evidence that mushrooms boost your immune system. Patients with depression or diabetes might leave with recipes that feature omega-3 rich fish or slow-release carbs along with their standard prescriptions. 'If you have certain illnesses, it's better to use medications as a complement to foods,'she says."
I wanted to know what her mushroom-ginger soup recipe was so I googled it and sure enough (bless the internet) I found it here!
Daphne Miller's Mushroom Soup with Ginger
1 ¼ cup shiitake, white button, maitake, cremini, or oyster mushrooms cut in
¼ inch slices
1/2 inch cube of fresh ginger (you can add a bit more if you really love ginger)
2 cups cold water
1 tablespoon white or red miso paste
1 tsp Mirin, sake or rice vinegar
1 tbsp finely chopped scallion
Put mushrooms, ginger and water in a pot with a lid and bring to a boil, immediately turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and take out ginger. Put ¼ up of broth in a bowl and stir in miso paste and Mirin.
Stir this mixture into the pot. Serve topped with scallions.
Serving size: 1 dose
The next time I felt a cold coming on I made it and couldn't believe how well it worked. It is amazing. Every.single.time I am under the weather this does the trick and I feel better, I won't say instantly, but ridiculously fast. It is my secret weapon.
A few other things I try to follow when battling a cold are eliminating dairy and sugar, take a good probiotic and drink as much water as possible. I also love ginger and drink this concoction daily even when I'm not sick.
- Grated ginger (the easiest way to do this is to keep a nob of ginger in the freezer and grate as needed using a microplane zester)
- Juice from 1/2 a lemon
- Honey to taste
- Pinch of cayenne (optional)
- Add hot water
As a final note, Daphne Miller wrote the Jungle Effect which is a very interesting read and I just noticed she has new book out, Farmacology, that I just added to my Amazon wishlist. You can read more about her here.
Be well.