This chilled soup runs entirely on raw, peak-season summer vegetables - corn cut straight from the cob, cherry tomatoes, a courgette and bell peppers, all left chunky rather than fully pureed. Only a third of the mixture goes through the blender, along with water, cider vinegar, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, a pitted date, nutritional yeast and miso, which together build a savoury, faintly cheesy depth that water and vinegar alone could never provide. Stirring that blended base back into the remaining vegetables keeps the soup textured rather than uniform, so every spoonful still has corn kernels and diced pepper to chew on. Chilli flakes lay a light warmth throughout, and fresh basil keeps the whole bowl on the green, summery side rather than the heavy one. A few hours in the cold before serving let the vinegar and miso settle into the vegetables, which noticeably improves the flavour over eating it straight away.
Raw summer vegetable soup with corn and cherry tomatoes
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Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh organic corn kernels
- 2 bell peppers, diced
- 1 medium courgette, diced
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 4 spring onions, sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- 2 cups filtered water, or as needed for consistency
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
- A few sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 pitted date
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon miso
- Sea salt, to taste (the equivalent of 1 tablespoon - 15 ml - of seawater)
Preparation
- Combine the corn, peppers, courgette, tomatoes, basil and spring onions in a large bowl.
- Scoop out about a third of that mixture and transfer it to a blender along with the water, vinegar, garlic, chilli flakes, sun-dried tomatoes, date, nutritional yeast and miso.
- Blend until smooth, then stir it back into the bowl with the remaining vegetables. Chill for a few hours before serving so the flavours can develop.
Tip
The soup keeps improving over a day or two in the refrigerator as the vegetables marinate in the blended base, so it is genuinely worth making ahead rather than serving the same afternoon. Swap in any firm summer squash if courgette is not available.
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FAQ: your questions about raw summer vegetable soup
Is it good to eat cold soup?
Yes, and nutritionally a raw soup even has an advantage over a simmered one: vitamin C and the B vitamins, both sensitive to heat, are far better preserved. The only real caveat concerns digestive comfort - people who struggle with large quantities of raw vegetables may find a raw soup demanding. In that case, take it out of the refrigerator twenty minutes before serving: it goes down much more easily at cellar temperature than straight from the cold.
Is it good to eat soup in summer?
Nothing stands in the way, provided you choose the right one. A cold soup of raw vegetables brings plenty of water, minerals and fibre, exactly what you need in the heat, and it lets you take in a quantity of vegetables you would not necessarily eat as salad. Andalusian gazpacho is the best-known example, and this recipe offers a different reading of it, more textured and more savoury thanks to the miso.
Which light cold soup is ideal for summer?
The lightest are those built on water-rich vegetables - tomato, cucumber, courgette, pepper - with no cream or starch added to thicken them. They come together in the blender in minutes and keep two to three days in the refrigerator. If you want a cold soup to make a complete meal rather than a starter, add a source of fat and protein: soaked nuts, avocado, or as here miso and nutritional yeast.
How do you make a summer vegetable soup?
The method in this recipe comes down to one useful principle: blend only part of the vegetables, never all of them. A third through the blender is enough to create a broth that binds the whole, while the remaining two thirds keep their bite and their colours. That avoids the trap of the uniform puree, where corn, pepper and courgette end up tasting and feeling exactly the same.
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