Soup is universally loved: on a cold day, it feels good to wrap your fingers around a warm cup of Tomato Bisque; in the sickbed, just the aroma of Chicken Noodle Soup makes you feel better, nurtured and well fed. At the bottom of a ski run, a fall picnic, in a lunchbox thermos or on the table, a bowl of soup brings a warm glow to the body, gives strength and brings a smile and a sigh as the spoon is dipped in the broth.

Ginna BB Gordon has spent her lifetime studying the art of soup. From Bonnebrook Farm in Ohio to the Chopra Center kitchen in La Jolla, and all professional and home kitchens in between, soup has been on the menu.

Not just a book of 77 delicious recipes, The Soup Kit is a map to good soup. It contains everything a cook needs to know about the subject: a little history, a lot of spice and herb combos borrowed from other cultures, notes about thickeners and other additions, the right vegetable cut for the right end result, when to add which ingredient and more for soup that has layers of flavor and is chock full of nutrition.

The Soup Kit belongs in every kitchen