Chicken Soup Recipe for Cold and Cough with Medicinal Mushrooms

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Adobe Stock/nesavinov
Chicken soup with mushrooms and noodles on rustic wooden table. Selective focus.
3 hours, 45 minutes DURATION
3 hours, 30 minutes COOK TIME
15 minutes PREP TIME

Ingredients

  • • 5 pounds organic chicken (If using a whole chicken, remove chicken meat just after stock is brought to boil and reserve.)
  • • 12 cups fresh water
  • • 3 carrots, cut into thirds
  • • 2 parsnips, quartered
  • • 2 celery stalks, cut into thirds
  • • 2 onions, quartered
  • • 1 oz astragalus root
  • • 2 oz dried medicinal mushrooms of choice
  • • 3 bay leaves
  • • 1 to 2 tsp sea salt

Directions

  • 1. Bring all ingredients to a boil. Skim the top layer of the stock and discard. Then cover and simmer for at least 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Strain and keep stock. Discard veggies, astragalus, mushrooms, and chicken carcass.
  • 2. To the homemade chicken broth, add:
  • Reserved chicken
  • • 2 oz. dried shiitake mushrooms (or fresh, if available)
  • • 2 inches grated ginger root
  • • 6 to 8 cloves garlic, crushed
  • • Additional vegetables and grains as desired
  • 3. Simmer 15 to 30 minutes, or until all ingredients are tender. Serve immediately. Eat throughout the cold and flu season and up to three times per day during active upper respiratory infections.
  • 4. Another key element of preventing and treating colds is keeping your immune system in top shape by following healthy living practices.
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This chicken soup recipe for cold and cough contains proven, immune-boosting medicinal mushrooms, such as maitake and reishi, and astragalus root.

Grandma’s cold remedy — chicken noodle soup — may be warming and nourishing, but it’s not the best soup for a cold. An even better soup for colds is one that is actually therapeutic in the medicinal sense. This means it contains proven, immune-boosting foods like medicinal mushrooms (such as maitake and reishi) and astragalus root.

Astragalus for Immune Support

Astragalus membranaceus is one of the most extensively studied herbal medicines and has been used as part of traditional Chinese medicine to treat infections and other ailments for thousands of years. The dried roots of Astragalus contain compounds that possess immune-modulating, expectorant, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiviral properties, among others.[2,3] Astragalus and herbal formulas that contain it can prevent upper respiratory infections in people — and chickens, too — whose immune systems aren’t functioning optimally.[1]

Astragalus has firm, fibrous roots that are light yellow in color and have a sweet, pleasant taste. Dried astragalus root can be purchased in long slices, small pieces, or as a powder. The type most often used in soups is the sliced, dried root which is typically added to soups during cooking and then removed before eating. Since the bioactive compounds in astragalus are soluble in water, they are extracted into the broth while the soup is cooking.

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