It’s the time of year when the common cold abounds. And the flu. And seasonal allergies. It’s a tough time of year for the respiratory and immune systems.

Not being the cold-medicine type, I usually stock up on fresh ginger root, raw cider vinegar, raw honey and eucalyptus, and look for recipes that use those ingredients.

This soup is delicious with crusty bread and has many ingredients that make it very good for what ails you. I found the recipe somewhere a long time ago, and have gradually tweaked and adapted it for the crockpot because, as I mentioned before, crockpot cooking is lovely.

So if you’ve got a cold, or you live where it’s cold, or even if you don’t, here you go.

Kate’s Crockpot Carrot Ginger Soup

The ingredients:

2-3 pounds carrots

3-4 medium or smallish onions, to taste

some fresh ginger root (to taste…this is a make-you-feel-better ingredient), peeled and roughly chopped

2-5 cloves garlic (depending on size…to taste)

1-2 tsp salt (to taste)

a dash chipotle or other chili powder or 1 small hot pepper (make it spicy in whatever way seems appropriate to you)

water, vegetable stock, or chicken stock to cover

raw apple cider vinegar or thieves’ vinegar*

The method:

Peel and roughly chop the ginger. Peel the garlic. No need to peel the carrots (especially if they are organic). Just cut off the top and cut them into pieces about 3-4 inches long. Peel the onions and quarter them. Cut them a little smaller if you like. They’ll cook faster. Or not. Whatever.

Put all ingredients except the cider vinegar in the crockpot, cover with your cooking liquid of choice. Cook on High for 4 hours or so, until veggies are fork-tender.

I use a wand (or “immersion”) blender because it takes under a minute and I don’t have to transfer hot soup. If you don’t have one of those, you could do it in batches in a blender or food processor.

Add the vinegar to taste, and adjust the salt and chili powder as needed.

And that’s it.

The ginger, cider vinegar, and heat of this recipe make it great for a cold.

I wish you good health this season.

K.

* thieves’ vinegar is a concoction with legendary origins…the story goes that these four guys were robbing plague victims. When they were eventually caught and sentenced to death, they were told they could have their sentence suspended if they shared the secret of how they were able to go into plague-ridden house after house without catching the disease. They then shared the combination of herbs they used to stave off the sickness. There’s lots of disagreement over what exactly the formula was, but the recipe I used called for packing a mason jar with equal parts thyme, lavender, rosemary and sage. Then you cover those with raw cider vinegar, put the lid on and let it sit in a dark place for 6 weeks. From what I understand, thyme contains thymerosol, which is a key ingredient in vapo-rubs and things. Thieves’ vinegar can be used in soups or salads or taken straight for a sore throat. But be warned it has a very strong taste. So go easy, at least until you know what it tastes like.

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