I’m always looking for ways to incorporate the inflammation fighting spice turmeric into my family’s diet. A basic soup recipe I’ve made for several years combines tomatoes, turmeric and black pepper for a colorful and delicious meal. It’s one simple way to get more turmeric into our day.
Turmeric/Curcumin Cools Inflammation
Did you know there are over 6,000 studies substantiating the health benefits of turmeric and its active component curcumin? Many of those studies demonstrate how turmeric beats drugs such as Lipitor, steroids, Metformin, Prozac, Imipramine, Oxaliplatin (a chemotherapy drug), Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Aspirin, Naproxen, Celecoxib, and Tamoxifen.
The journal Science reports lab tests that show curcumin has geno-protective properties – meaning it protects the integrity of DNA – and can counter the genetic damage that leads to cystic fibrosis, a lung disorder. What might this say about repairing other genetic damage?
It is also a powerful cancer fighter. Interestingly curcumin causes damage to the DNA of cancer cells, but at the same time it protects normal cells from genetic damage with its antioxidant activity. Awesome, right!?
Inflammation Bomb
Turmeric contributes to digestive health putting out the inflammatory fire of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory bowel diseases.
I believe this highly-pigmented spice belongs in everyone’s diet and wellness plan, for both acute inflammation relief and long-term prevention.
As For Tomatoes
Scientific studies show that lycopene helps prevent prostate, lung, and stomach cancers. There is also some evidence that cancers of the pancreas, colon and rectum, esophagus, oral cavity, breast, and cervix could be reduced with increased lycopene intake. Lycopene may also help reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease by reducing LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and lowering blood pressure.
Lycopene is most available to the body when tomatoes are cooked and eaten in a meal that provides a small amount of fat.
Basic Tomato-Turmeric-Pepper Soup
Ingredients:
Serves 6-8. Feel free to adjust the recipe. This soup will turn out fabulously each time!
• 1 TBSP (or more) coconut oil
• 2 large onions, diced (the sweetness of caramelized onion is one secret of this soup’s flavor!)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tsp. turmeric powder
• 15 sun-ripened tomatoes with skin, quartered
• 1 can organic tomato paste
• 2-3 TBSP lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup bone broth or prepared vegetable stock
• a dash cayenne powder or red pepper flakes, optional, to taste
• 2 1/2 tsp. Celtic sea salt or Himalayan pink salt
• 1 small handful fresh basil, chives, or thyme, chopped (optional)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Top with shredded Parmesan, Asiago or mozzarella, optional.
Cook’s note: Create a whole different soup or chunky stew with the addition of one or more of these ingredients: sausage, bacon, ground beef, ham, lamb or beef chunks, lentils, kidney or pinto beans, potatoes, Lima beans, mixed vegetables, chopped spinach or kale, sour cream, red wine, Indian spices, etc.
Directions:
1. Melt coconut oil in a medium-sized Dutch oven or small stock pot.
2. Sauté (caramelize) the chopped onions and garlic cloves just until translucent.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and turmeric, stir.
4. Let cook on medium-high heat until the tomatoes have softened and some of the liquid is reduced – it takes 5- 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for another 10 minutes.
6. Blend using stick-blender until it’s just the texture you like it.
7. Add black pepper. Cucurmin is absorbed 2000% better by our bodies when paired with black pepper, so make sure you use this abundantly in your soup.
Serve with warm crusty bread and olive oil, green salad and fresh fruit.
Bon appètit!
Have you started using turmeric for inflammation yet?
Ways to use Turmeric Golden Paste in recipes and how to dose turmeric.
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Rhonda Devine
I can’t wait until my tomatoes are ripe, giving this recipe a try. I love tomato soup and the addition of turmeric is a great idea, I usually juice turmeric, but can’t wait to try this too. Thanks for sharing!
Julie Snow
Sounds delicious! About how many cups would say 15 quartered tomatoes yields? We grow some big ones 🙂
Jacqueline
This is just a guess, Julie, but it might be 15 cups if each tomato was worth a whole cup (your really big ones?). Maybe 10-12 cups if medium tomatoes?
If you have ever canned hot broth, you know how you put really hot broth in your clean quart jars? You could ‘quick-can’ what’s left of your soup (without the water bath) if very hot (bring to a boil for a few minutes) by getting the recipe all done and canning up what you can’t use for your current meal. Seal it quickly with new lids and rings and let the lids seal as the contents cools on the counter. Don’t put these jars on a pantry shelf and forget about them, but if the lids seal as mine have many times in the past, you will have a jar or two of soup base to make more meals within a month! You should hear them pop down! Just check that the seals are good and smell the contents before using. (If they don’t seal, they will keep 2 weeks or more beautifully in the fridge.)
I hope this is helpful!
Carol L
What do you mean “without the water bath”?
Do you mean pressure canned? As I understand the tomatoes grown today do not have enough acid to be water bath canned safely, and must be pressure canned..
So, are you saying this recipe, as stated, can be pressure canned?
Please always be careful how you word your comments: people here will take you at your word and assume this can be water bath canned without checking if it is REALLY safe to do so.
Could you clarify your comment, please? Thank you.
Tina
I participate in a local CSA and pinned this recipe for my next batch of tomatoes. I had quite a few peppers I needed to use up as well and added them to this soup. It turned out SO AMAZINGLY delicious!!! It’s a perfect blending of lovely flavors of the season. I’m not a fan of the taste of turmeric, and couldn’t discern it once the soup was finished. I will definitely make this again!!
Jacqueline
I love the idea of adding the red peppers, Tina! I can only imagine the powerful flavor boost they would add! THANK YOU for your idea 🙂
Tina
They were sweet peppers rather than hot peppers! Though I think a hot pepper would also go nicely in this soup, I had a couple of people eating with me that I knew wouldn’t be able to handle their heat! But the sweet peppers added a lovely depth to an already delicious soup!
Jacqueline
Tina, I was thinking you meant sweet red peppers, but now that you mention it, adding a bit of warmth and kick via a bit of jalapeno would be amazing, especially on a chilly day in the fall 🙂 Thank you so much for your fun comments! 😀
Tina
YES!!!! Some heat would be so GOOD in this soup. I opted to leave out the cayenne or red pepper flakes because I knew it wouldn’t go over well with my mom and son. But I DID add a LOT of cracked black pepper. My mom, who sneezes and coughs and sputters with anything peppery asked if the red peppers were what added the “spice in the back of her throat.” I had to confess to adding a bunch of black pepper for the turmeric absorption; which she was all for due to the anti inflammatory aspect. But I have to admit I added a lot due to the fact I knew I (said with emphasis) would love the heat of the cayenne but was skipping it for them! I’m a sneaky rascal sometimes!
Jacqueline
Haha! You are sneaky, Tina 😉 Good job!
Jeannette
Oh, I am looking forward to more soups as the weather cools this fall. This sounds great! I froze freshly made pesto in little dollops, so I will add some of those. And sausage sounds like a delicious addition!
Jacqueline
That does sound wonderful, Jeannette, esp the pesto. The weather has turned cool here, and we love soups – so warming and satisfying!
Enjoy this season.
Hugs to you!
Jacque
honingbij
Hi:
This is a bit off topic, but I can’t find your recipe for tumeric paste anymore. I could have sworn you had one, but it seems to have disappeared. Thanks for any help!
honingbij
As it turns out, I finally did find the post. Typing in “tumeric paste”, in the search box , though, only gives this page.
Jacqueline
Hi, Honingbij,
Could this be the post you are looking for? The one on Golden Paste? https://deeprootsathome.com/how-to-make-use-turmeric-golden-paste/
I’m sorry for your inconvenience. I hope this is the right one, friend! Let me know if it’s not!
Blessings,
Jacque
honingbij
Yes, that was the one! Thanks, Jacque!
I think I had a fat finger and hadn’t spelled turmeric correctly and that’s why I couldn’t find it before.
Lisa
Most people don’t know this and no I don’t have links to provide for proof but you can easily find them in a search. Mixing Turmeric with Pepper can cause Liver damage and if taken regularly can cause Liver failure requiring a liver transplant. There is actually quite a lot of documented medical evidence of this truth. Most doctors don’t know this either (not surprising🙄) unless they find out because they have a patient that presents with Liver issues. Then it’s a matter of discovering something they should have known, rather than just founding out. I’ve read of this on MANY occasions, especially when people take Turmeric or Curcumin supplements with Bioperine (aka Pepper)or if it’s just listed as Black pepper. Black pepper is mostly commonly used because it’s the most common and cheapest, but any other Pepper from pepper trees causes the same problem. Seriously look into this and if you make the Soup DON’T add Pepper regardless of it’s ability to make the body absorb more Curcumin. Therein lies the danger.
`
Hi, Lisa,
I did some digging and this is what I found: “A 2023 study showed an increase in turmeric-induced liver injuries in the U.S. The researchers examined data from the U.S. Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network between 2004 and 2022. Only ten cases of turmeric-related liver injuries were reported, but six of these occurred since 2017.” That is infinitesimally low.
Crazy thing is that “Hoofnagle (one of the study authors) said they could not say with certainty that all of the cases they discovered were due to turmeric, as many of the people they identified with liver injury were taking other drugs at the time
Oh, shock! Do people know how many pharma drugs cause liver damage??? Probably over 75% of them are dangerous causing far more (like in the hundreds of thousands every year) than 10 injuries in 18 years!
I appreciate your concern, but there has been a lot of hype over this – in my humble opinion. Many of us following this kind of thing think it is a failed attempt to villainize a very useful natural herb that can’t be patented and direct us instead to pricey and dangerous pharma drugs.
We often use turmeric in complimentary medical circles for breast cancer (see this post: https://deeprootsathome.com/breast-cancer-turmeric/ And much higher doses than normal daily use are given. All the studies are in the post and not a one mentions anything harmful about it at the high doses given. Please read the studies for yourself.
Liver enzymes are always monitored closely in blood work in these kinds of studies, however nothing alarming or abnormal is noted about them.
Also, my husband and I both take turmeric with blk pepper every AM (for over 8 years now daily) and we test our blood work regularly and our liver enzymes are great. You can read about our morning turmeric habit here: https://deeprootsathome.com/anti-inflammatory-turmeric-spices-bulk-mix-recipe-users-guide/
and here: https://deeprootsathome.com/hot-cocoa-with-turmeric-coconut-oil-maca-spices/
So bottom line, I think it is a red herring, but people need to be aware of their bodies and make informed decisions. Sadly, vaccines and pharma drugs of all kinds kill thousands and few will acknowledge it, though awareness of that is changing.
I thank you for your concern. I feel it is largely unwarranted and exploited by unscrupulous people to keep people from the natural help they need and point them to pharma meds that really do harm in almost EVERY case.
Bless you, Lisa, and thank you for your question.
Jacqueline
PS. I did write a whole post on this after additional research. You can find it here: https://deeprootsathome.com/is-turmeric-dangerous-causing-liver-damage/
So glad you shared your concerns and strong feelings. ~J
Carol L
A fat must also be used with turmeric to aid in absorption. I have a “warming spice” blend I often use with tomato soup. I will add the turmeric and pepper to it.
Warming Spices:
2 T Cumin
1 T each:
coriander
cinnamon
cardamom
allspice
1/2 T sweetener if you want
1/2 T aleppo pepper or chili pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Thank you for the recipe! I make and eat a lot of tomato soup in the fall and winter!
Jacqueline
Carol L, that sounds wonderful, and yes, warming! Yes to the fat.. I think I added that in all the turmeric posts!
Love the coriander, cinnamon, and cardamom additions! Thanks 🙂
Making some tomorrow!
Jacque