During the cold months of winter, warming up is a primary objective. Heating from the inside out is one of the many comforts that this time of year affords.

Though tea, coffee and other hot beverages can do the trick, soup can make a meal out of the steaming liquid.

"My hot soup line is very popular this time of the year," Susan Parker, owner and cook of The Soup Shack, said. "When people are coming inside they are looking for comfort food. Soup is at the top of the list."

Parker, who has been is business for three years cooks up 12 different varieties and packages them frozen for customers who can purchase them by a single serving or quart and warm them in the comfort of their own home.

Though made in a commercial kitchen, the soups are homemade.

"I pick the vegetables and wash them myself," Parker said. "It gives it the right touch for that homemade quality and flavor."

The Soup Shack's featured flavor this winter is butternut squash with apple. The vine ripened fruit is a seasonal selection that many local restaurants are serving up this winter.

North Salem's Soup Cellar, 2505 Liberty St. NE #130, and downtown's Wild Pear, 372 State St., ladle their own version of butternut squash soup.

"It's our single most requested recipe," Jessica Ritter, co-owner of Wild Pear, said. "They keep asking for it, but I've kept it a secret."

Both restaurants offer customers three daily choices, which usually include a meat and vegetarian option.

"We tend to do heartier soups, like chowders or wild rice and mushroom," Ritter said.

Soup Cellar owner Sheila Mousel offers the same creamy concoctions, but with a selection of 40-50 soups in her repertoire, there's room for experimentation.

"I'm always on the lookout for new recipes," Mousel said. "Customers are volunteering them."

Among the cellar's more unique options are Thai coconut chicken, Indian chicken, and an Indian lentil.

"People seem to be intrigued," Mousel said.

Wild Pear also serves up ethnically inspired soups, though the inspiration comes from the cooks themselves.

These diverse selections have regional as well as familial influences, according to Ritter.

"We have Costa Rican, El Salvadorian, and Vietnamese cooks on staff," Ritter said. "As we build up our team, we gain an authentic soup from them."

In this dreary economic climate, soup is usually a sensibly priced option.

"Soup is a fairly humble menu item," Ritter said. "Whether purchase as a cup or a bowl it's a pretty inexpensive."

While the season may boost soup sales for these local purveyors it's a passion.

"There's no magic formula," Parker said. "I love to cook and wanted to go into business for myself. Those passions came together."

For Mousel, who has owned The Soup Cellar for six months, cooking for others make the task seem easier.

"Making a big pot, it doesn't seem like so much work," she said.

For as little as $2.50 for a cup, someone else can slave over the stove.