Soup with a difference

Over the years, my kids have become used to unusual ingredients in their food.  In fact, I think they would be disappointed if all meals became normal and run of the mill. In particular, there's been many different versions of 'green soup'.  Green soup started one Halloween when I made them a vividly bright witches brew (pea soup) and they have patiently consumed an array of brews ever since.

My latest green soup concoction did create a moment of hesitation however, but not for long when they realised it tasted pretty delicious. Something they, or I, hadn't tried before - carrot tops.
Carrots are a weekly feature in our organic veg box that is reliably delivered to the house every Wednesday. At this time of year, the carrots all come in bunches with a beautiful head of long, green, wavy stems and dainty leaves. When we had a rabbit, these were never wasted, but now the gorgeous Fluffy has gone to bunny heaven, there has been no one to eat the leaves all up. Until now!
After a little research, I discovered that carrot tops are actually packed full of nutrients, many different to those found in the carrots themselves. According to the website World Carrot Museum (www.carrotmuseum.co.uk - you have to check it out. Who knew there was so much to know about carrots!), carrot tops are packed full of vitamin C, potassium and calcium as well as chlorophyll, the phytonutrient that gives the vivid green colour. Chlorophyll is a great source of magnesium, wonderful for cell function, heart and bone health, and is great at detoxing lymph nodes and the adrenal glands.

There is a rumour that carrot tops are poisonous, but no evidence of this. Carrots are part of the umbellifers family which includes fennel, celery, parsley - and hemlock. So I guess in the wild carrot tops could be mistaken for something more deadly. They've been used medicinally since the time of the Ancient Greeks and the US army mentions them in their survival handbook, so they can't be too bad!
This soup is so simple and super healthy (sorry for the pun!). It contains no added oil and only a few ingredients, so is cheap too. I only use organic carrot tops as I don't want to consume any additional chemicals that may be added during the growing process. And only use the actual leaves, not the stems as these are pretty woody and don't break down, ruining the texture of the soup - I had to make a few attempts to get this right.
So if you have a bunch of carrots lying around, or you've grown your own and don't want to waste the tops, give this a try and reap the benefits of all that greenery!
Carrot top and potato soup (from The World Carrot Museum)

750mls vegetable stock
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bunch carrot top leaves, washed and chopped
1 star anise
1 small potato, chopped
salt and pepper
Pour the vegetable stock into a pan and bring to the boil. Add the other ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes or so until the potato is well cooked. Leave to cool a bit, take out the star anise then pop in the blender or blitz with a stick until smooth. Reheat gently, add more seasoning if necessary and enjoy!