Healing Soups: Hearty Four-Bean Soup

Enlarge Image Image Gallery James A. Duke, Ph.D., a botanist and former USDA researcher, is widely considered one of the world’s leading authorities on healing plants. Susan Belsinger

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Makes 4 to 6 servings

When I have enough beans on hand, I make a Seven-Bean version of this soup. Different kinds of beans and legumes provide different beneficial compounds, and I believe they probably work best when combined into one recipe. If you use dried beans, you’ll need to pre-soak them and cook the soup longer, until the beans become tender.

Be sure to include the black pepper—it contains piperine, which enhances the benefits of curry and mustard. I like to serve this soup with seven-grain bread topped with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and minced garlic in lieu of butter.

• 1/2 cup baby lima beans
• 1/2 cup diced snap beans
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1/2 cup field peas
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 6 to 8 cups water or vegetable stock
• Salt to taste
• Additional onion, finely diced
• Hot fresh pepper, finely diced

1) In a soup pot, combine all ingredients except salt, additional onion and hot pepper. Stir well. Heat to boiling, then lower heat and simmer for about an hour. Add salt to taste. Top each serving with diced raw onions and hot peppers.

James A. Duke, Ph.D., a botanist and former USDA researcher, is widely considered one of the world’s leading authorities on healing plants. He conducts seminars on botanical medicine at the Green Farmacy Garden and leads annual expeditions to the Amazon rainforest and coastal forests of Maine. His new book, Duke’s Handbook of Medicinal Plants of the Bible, will be published December 2007. 

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