Jen Costa’s Spring Sipping Broth
In the Kitchen with Nature Evolutionaries, a monthly feature that shares recipes from Earth-honoring, plant-wise folks passionate about delicious and healing foods. This is an invitation to connect with Nature through preparing and eating our food.
Inspired By Awakened Peeper Frogs Heralding Early Spring
Our bodies know things. They know the seasons.
For some people Spring can arrive with fatigue, rashes, acne, and maybe flare ups of new acute or chronic conditions. This broth will help, along with learning the fine art of napping, or at least resting with peaceful music.
If you’ve ever started seeds, then one of the lessons is to not rush in Spring. Like little seedlings, things take time and much is going on under the ground to build energy for more rapid growth down the road.
Our lives are parallel with plants in so many ways.
If we move too quickly through the energy building time of spring, we don’t have the resiliency for moving to summer where rapid growth/energy happens. I used to do this all the time moving fast and furious in the spring only to wear myself out by summer solstice. It took time to re-pattern this behavior. I took my lessons from the plants.
Sipping broth is so easy. They can sit in the fridge to just drink by the mug full, or made into soups and stew. We make a batch a week here.
I chose additions, such as Calendula, Cardamom, Fennel seed, and roots of Burdock, Turmeric, Astragalus and Ginger that build gut and immune health along with liver and kidney function as these filtering organs have much to do as we transition. Beets, fennel stalks, parsley, garlic, and functional mushrooms just add more to help build and rejuvenate our internal systems.
It’s delicate and delicious tasting.
INGREDIENTS:
1 large golden beet sliced
1 leek with tops rough chopped.
1/2 bulb fennel with fronds rough chopped
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds or 10 pods
1 inch piece of ginger root sliced
1 inch piece turmeric root sliced - or 1 TB powder
1/4 cup calendula flowers
1//4 cup parsley - rough chopped
1 tablespoon astragalus root dried
1 tablespoon burdock root dried
3 slices of lemon with rind
3 cloves garlic sliced
1 oz Lion’s mane mushroom and/ or shiitakes
Salt & pepper to your liking
8 cups water - fill up enough to cover veggies
1 can coconut milk (optional and delicious!)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Place everything except the coconut milk into a favorite soup pot and cover while bringing to a slow simmer for 2 hours.
2. Cool a bit, strain, add coconut milk if using and taste. Adjust seasoning to your liking. Keep refrigerated and rewarm for dosing.
3. Spring Dosing: Sip 1-2 mugs per day warm to help with your internal Spring cleaning. Enjoy.
Note: Check your nettles and chickweed patches for new shoots under the dried leaves. A handful can be added. Ours are not up just yet for this batch, so I added fresh onion tops that were sprouting in the pantry along with basil I had been growing inside all winter. Add what you have.
Enjoy!
Jen Costa of www.eldermoonschool.net
Hello, I am a 30-year Community Herbalist, Apothecary Creator, Biologist/Botanist, 18-year Critical Care RN, Teacher, and Founder of ElderMoon School of Herbs and Earth Medicine. I live among the mountains, forests, and streams of the beautiful Hudson Valley, NY with my husband Jay and three sons in various stages of leaving the nest.
