The sun is blazing. The sweat is dripping. The air feels as if it is sticking to your skin. Hey, how about a nice big bowl of soup?

Seriously. Soup is good food. Especially in the summer, when the soup is cold. Summer soup is different from winter soup. Winter soup is heavy, substantial, serious. But summer soup is light, frivolous, festive. It cools you down from the inside out.

When I think about cold summertime soups, my first thought is: gazpacho. Gazpacho is the (generally) tomato-based cold soup that originated in the Andalusia region of Spain. Everyone makes it differently, but the essentials are the same — ripe tomatoes, sherry vinegar whenever possible and a bit of bread that has been soaked in water and then squeezed for added texture, all pureed together.

That's not the way I make it. I call my version Farmers Market Gazpacho. I usually serve it thin with plenty of nice chunks of veggies crammed into it.

Two other bits of culinary apostasy: I begin with canned tomato juice. Why not? It's tomatoey. And I do add real tomatoes, so I'm not entirely cheating. The other thing I do is I add chicken stock. It adds a certain depth missing in the Andalusian version.

Another thing I like to do in the summer is take cold-weather soups and, by virtue of chilling them, turn them into hot-weather soups.

I have a grilled corn soup with leeks that I make in the fall, but it is just as good in the summer when it is served cold. And spiced carrot soups, an essential safeguard against the snow, are every bit as good a shield against the hot sun.

Most curried or spiced soups have cream in them to temper the heat from the spice, and that cream works just as well to cool you down on a hot day. The Ginger and Carrot Soup uses yogurt instead of the higher-fat cream.

Now, vichyssoise — it's one of the all-time great French dishes that isn't actually French. That's right. Vichyssoise was invented in 1917 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New York City. Chef Louis Diat thought about the leek-and-potato soup his mother used to serve when he was growing up. When she served leftover soup, she would thin it out with cream. It is that idea, leek-and-potato soup mixed with cream and chilled, that is the essence of vichyssoise.

I decided to make a distinctly American version of it by adding corn to the potatoes and leeks or onions. This idea came from Jacques Pepin who, like Diat, is a French chef living in America.

And for a bit of sweetness, I went to a truly spectacular soup created by Emeril Lagasse. His Summer Fruit Soup only has a little bit of cooking, just a few minutes to dissolve the sugar and bring the most out of the strawberries, the pineapple, the mango and the lemon, lime and orange peels.

It's an abundance of fruit, plus sugar. It sounds too sweet — you could serve it for dessert, but I'd make it a light and refreshing appetizer. The sweetness is cleverly balanced by a tablespoon of minced ginger, giving the soup just the bite it needs to keep it from being cloying.

Or, what the heck. Serve it last. If you're having three chilled soups for dinner, you may as well have one last one for dessert.

Yield: 4 servings1 tablespoon unsalted butter1 tablespoon corn oil1 medium onion, sliced (about 1¾ cups)8 ounces potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks4 large ears corn, husked and kernels cut off (3½ cups)1 teaspoon salt2½ cups water1½ cups half-and-half2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or tarragonHeat the butter and oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Mix in the potatoes, corn kernels, salt and water and bring to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat to low, and boil gently for 20 minutes.Use an immersion blender, food processor or blender to purée. For a soup with a smoother, finer texture, push it through a fine sieve set over a bowl. Stir in the half-and-half and chives or tarragon.Refrigerate until chilled before serving.

Yield: About 4 quarts1 quart tomato juice1 quart chicken stock¼ cup olive oil¼ cup red wine vinegar6 medium tomatoes, diced1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced1 medium sweet onion, diced2 cloves garlic, minced2 carrots, diced2 ribs celery, diced1 zucchini, diced1 green or red pepper, diced½ bulb fennel, sliced thin, optional2 tablespoons fresh basil or 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped, optional½ avocado, sliced, for garnish, optionalCombine all the ingredients except the optional avocado in a large bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours.When serving, float the optional avocado slices on top of each bowl.

Yield: 8 servings2 tablespoons olive oil1 medium onion, chopped1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated1 clove garlic, sliced2 pounds carrots, sliced6 cups vegetable brothJuice of 1 lime, plus lime wedges for garnish, optional1 cup plain yogurt (not nonfat)Salt and pepperWarm the oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the onion; sauté until softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic; sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.Raise the heat to medium-high; stir in the carrots. Pour the broth into the pot, cover and bring to a simmer.Remove the cover, reduce the heat to medium to maintain a simmer and cook until the carrots are very tender, about 25 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat and let it cool slightly.Working in batches, purée the soup in a blender until it is smooth. Transfer the soup to a large bowl, cover and refrigerate it until chilled, at least 2 hours.Just before serving, stir in the lime juice and yogurt. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.Serve chilled, garnished with lime wedges if desired.

Yield: 8 servings1 tablespoon minced ginger3 cups chopped strawberries, divided2 cups chopped pineapple, divided1½ cups chopped mango, divided2 pieces lemon peel2 pieces lime peel2 pieces orange peel4 cups water1½ cups sugar¼ cup fresh orange juice2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice2 tablespoons fresh lime juice1 cup blueberriesMint sprigs, for garnishSauté the ginger in a medium pot over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes (no oil is necessary).Add 2 cups strawberries, 1 cup pineapple, ¾ cup mango and the lemon, lime and orange peels; cook for another 2 minutes.Add the water, sugar and fruit juices and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 5 minutes and remove from the heat.Allow the mixture to cool slightly and then transfer it in batches to a blender or food processor. Purée and strain the mixture into a large bowl.Add the remaining 1 cup chopped strawberries, 1 cup chopped pineapple, ¾ cup chopped mango and blueberries. Stir to combine, cover and refrigerate until well chilled.Serve with mint sprigs for garnish.