A day of bitter cold and back-to-back commitments: how many people, after a day like that, feel the need to "take refuge" in a warm and comforting "grandmother's" soup? Quite a few, probably.

This dish, in fact, has the ability to neutralise in record time the cold that has built up: we all know that just a few spoonfuls are enough to feel a pleasant warmth spread through the body. But soups and broths are not only warming dishes — they are also dishes with marked health-giving virtues, known to the ancients and confirmed by science. And to appreciate this, it is enough to start from their secret: wholesomeness and simplicity. Fresh ingredients from the seasonal kitchen garden, picked, washed, chopped and set to cook in water, with no stock cubes, thickeners or preservatives.

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That alone, nowadays, would be enough to make them an elixir of health! Leafing through regional recipe books (each with its own delicacies), one realises how many variations on the theme there are, each with its own characteristic healing properties: from the rustic nettle soup (rich in minerals) to pumpkin and lentil soup (detoxifying, laxative) to French onion soup (digestive, diuretic). Extra virgin olive oil, added raw to the bowl, must never be left out: as well as making the dish utterly delicious, it contributes precious antioxidant substances and monounsaturated fatty acids, which among fats are the most active in the prevention of cardiovascular disorders. Oleic acid, furthermore, prevents arterial lesions and reduces the risk of heart attack, stroke, thrombosis and coronary artery disease in general.

This ancient peasant dish is even richer in active compounds when prepared, as Mediterranean tradition teaches, with whole grains. A recent study conducted by University College London and published in Cancer Research has in fact discovered a new and powerful anti-tumour compound in cereals and legumes, called "inositol pentakisphosphate". This compound inhibits an enzyme involved in tumour growth.

If we then consider that in any self-respecting soup another cancer-preventive food, garlic, is never absent, our "alchemical cauldron" is complete!