Stone Soup

Did you ever hear the story about the starving man who walked into a village and no one would give him anything to eat?  He asked several people but times were hard and no one had extra to give him so he set up his pot and got some water from the well.  After he built his little fire, he put the pot over it and added a stone.

The villagers became curious and asked him what he was doing.  He told them he was making stone soup.  They answered that you couldn’t make soup from a stone.  “Of course you can, he told them and continued to cook.”   They became more and more curious and he offered to share some with them when it was done.

He looked at the most curious of the villagers and mentioned that it was a shame he had no onions to add to the soup as it would be much better.  Next thing you know, the villager had returned with a plump onion to add.  A little bit later, he mentioned to another villager that it was a shame he didn’t have any carrots as the soup would be much better and soon that villager had returned with some carrots.  He continued to cook and the aroma of the onions and carrots wafted through the village.  A few more villagers stopped by and he mentioned that the stone soup was coming along well but would be so much better if he had some leftover meat to add to it.  Several of the villagers scurried off, returning with meat to add to the soup.

Now the aroma of the soup was drawing a crowd and more villagers brought vegetables to add to the soup.  It was like a party.  When the soup was done, everyone ate their fill and the starving man was full and content and so were the villagers.

There are a lot of meanings to this story.  It’s about making something from nothing.  It’s about learning to share for the betterment of all.  It’s about using ingenuity to make your way in the world.  Today, I am using it as an introduction to what I have always though of as stone soup.

Soup Pot

I keep a quart container in the freezer and add any leftover vegetables to it including enough cooking water to cover them.  This ends up being layers of different vegetables, a cup of peas, a half cup of potatoes, some green beans, left over carrots, etc.  When one quart container is done, I start another.  This is my soup pot.

Stone Soup

When we have leftover meat whether it is chicken, beef, pork or ham, I make stone soup.  I take the left over meat and cut it into chunks.  If there is bone, I leave it in to help flavor the soup.  I then add water to cover and some canned tomatoes.  I let this simmer for an hour or two to make a good stock and then start adding the frozen soup pot quarts.  I simmer this for maybe another hour and season to taste and I have my version of stone soup.

This is virtually a free meal and it is always delicious.  It contains a variety of vegetables with a meat and vegetable stock.  I don’t have to buy anything except the tomatoes and it’s usually enough to feed us for several days.  If we get tired of it, I usually freeze a quart or so for a cold rainy day.

What do you do with your leftovers?

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