As the UK autumn has now a firm hold over the country and winter is tapping at the door threatening icy mornings, my mind is turning to soup. I always associate soups with this time of the year – I often eat them anytime of the year but really my consumption is focused on the colder months. I’m relatively simple in my soupy requirements and generally have it with bread as a bit of a traditionalist souper at heart. The usual favourite of mine is the tomato and basil combination. It’s a great mixture for a soup and often never fails to deliver soupy goodness.
Seeing as my soup consumption has increased I thought I would do a mini review of the soups so far this getting rapidly chiller month. The quality of soups is always a bit of a random affair and as a rule I stick to either good quality fresh or non-tinned sachet soups. I hardly ever venture into the ugly taste-bud killing avenue of cup-a-soups or tinned soup. I guess you could call me a soup snob but I like my soups simple and the fresh ones often taste better. This month so far I’ve indulged in 2 types of tomato and basil soup and one traditional cream of tomato soup, each with varying quality.
First up is the Tesco’s own Tomato and Basil soup. This soup I selected to have with cheese bread rolls. The rolls were great and the soup wasn’t bad but it was lumpy and not in the nice way, but in the watery tomato tasteless lumpy way. Tomato and basil soup is a delicate soup really and this one was over powered with pepper seasoning – not really a great soup and lead me to think the ingredients were inferior and a cover up was needed. If I was to score it I guess it would only get 3 out of 5. It filled me up but I am not sure that was due to the bread rather than the soup and it didn’t make me want to buy it again. The only bonus really of this one over most was the fact that it was wheat, gluten and diary free so my husband who has special dietary needs can actually have it – found it odd that it didn’t market as that, but it definitely would be fine for him so a bonus on that ground.
The second is one I had a week ago and was an surprisingly good soup. This was Tesco’s Finest Tomato and Basil soup. I admit I was not thinking it would be great as it seemed rather pale in colour and more like a bright orange than the seemingly ‘pure’ ingredients would lead me to believe. I found the ingredients list a bit odd too as balsamic vinegar was listed – not sure what that had to do with soup and don’t really like it myself. However, the soup itself was well balanced and really tasty. There were no watery or tasteless lumps of sponge tomato and the basil was full flavoured and had a nice tang to it. I could actually taste basil so this was a bonus. I had this with a simple small french bread baguette from their finest range again. I will definitely be opting for this one again and give it a 4 out of 5.
The final one is what I call my stand by soup. It’s one that I have always in the cupboard and it’s not fresh in the sense of the others. This comes in a packet but the quality really is great. This is the Seeds of Change cream of tomato soup. This I always keep in my cupboard incase of soup needing. Unlike a lot of cream of tomato soups it is delicate rather than sickly. With any type of bread this soup always delivers and warms my heart on the coldest of UK moments. This is a keeper soup at 5 out of 5 and I recommend it to anyone for a taste sensation.
There you go, that is my venture into soup land so far. I am feeling I might explore beyond the safety of tomato and look to other soups over the next few weeks. I will report if I have any more soup findings. Not so many that this turns into the soup channel though.
