Top 8: The cream of the shop-bought vegetable soups
Picture: iStock
Many of the soups we have tasted in the past have been over-salted and under-flavoured so we watched for these two elements when tasting this week’s vegetable soups. Of course, making our own is easy, especially with the great seasonal root vegetables available now.
You can reduce cooking time by grating your favourite blend of vegetables — raw carrots, parsnips, celeriac, potatoes, etc — onions and sliced leeks. Boil up a vegetable stock cube with a litre or two of water and plunge the grated vegetables in, adding your top flavourings.
I rarely make a soup without garlic and often add chopped fresh ginger and a red chilli. Cover the saucepan and simmer gently. By the time you’ve cleaned up and your countertop is sparkling, it will be ready. You can decide whether to keep it chunky or blend to a smooth consistency.
Creamy soup is a good base for leftovers — the end of a can of baked beans or chickpeas, scraps of meat, a raggy rasher or parmesan bits that are too small to grate, including the skin. Never throw out cheese rinds, but add to the pot and fish out before serving.
When serving, grate over any hard cheese or scrape in creamy cheese, yoghurt or sweet chilli sauce. This goes for any of today’s Top 8 soups.
The balance is just right with 36% root vegetables, 8% tomatoes, butter, cream, butternut squash, rice, green lentils flavoured with turmeric, ginger purée, Ras El Hanout spices, and salt at 0.5%. Lentils provide bite in an otherwise smooth soup. Gluten-free. All tasters liked it best. Made in Ireland.
9.5
The 48% vegetables include carrots, potatoes, onions, leeks, celery, tomatoes, with cream, butter, and vegetable stock, which includes turmeric and herbs. Salt is a fair 0.63% — under 1% is acceptable. The result is naturally creamy, with a very good balance of flavours. The favourite of younger tasters. Produced in Ireland. Suitable for vegetarians. Good price.
9.25
A deliciously fresh, clean taste of tomatoes 35%, red peppers 8%, onions, leeks, 4% each aubergine and courgettes, with celery, milk, Montello Parmigiano (also organic), salt is a decently low 0.4%. A good base, as suggested on the pack, for curry flavourings and coconut milk. Made in Cobh. Good to see Deirdre Hilliard’s pioneering of organic prepared food prospering. Gluten free.
9
Subtitled Creamy Carrot, Potato, Onion, Leek and Celery Soup with Parsley and Thyme, this soup is just that. A well-balanced soup despite having the highest salt content of the selection at 1.2%. Cream and butter add richness with a hint of tomatoes. One taster thought it a bit too bland, but a grind of black pepper sorted that. Gluten free and suitable for vegetarians. Made in Ireland.
8
Vegetables of 46% include quite a selection — carrot, turnip, onion, celery, potato and leek, which come together nicely into a creamy soup with a little grainy bite from sweetcorn, green beans, peas, flageolet beans and red lentils. The vegetable stock includes rice flour, salt 0.6%, turmeric, parsley, and modified maize starch, which is not overdone. Gluten free. Made in Kilkenny.
8
Carrot 16%, potato 8%, onion 6%, red lentils, parsnip 3%, leek 2%, and celery 2%, make for a slightly chunky soup. The base is smoothened with skimmed milk powder, cornflour, and with flavours include garlic purée, salt, dextrose, garlic powder, onion powder, sage extract, and thyme The preservative is sodium metabisulphite. Salt is 0.45%. A pleasant soup, made in Ireland. We bought in Dunnes.
8
Quite a lot of natural sweetness from 22% butternut squash, 9% carrot, 9% sweet potato, 4.5% each parsnip and potato, lifted with a hint of chilli and cumin, leading tasters back for more. Smooth silkiness is provided by cream and butter. Salt is 0.65%. Rice flour means it’s gluten-free. A good product.
9
A creamy soup with coconut milk is not enough to balance the overpowering taste of leeks and onions — 10% each. Carrots 10%, celeriac and parsnip 8% each, potato 4%, and some spinach have salt at 0.65%. Gluten free and suitable for vegans. It contains 25g less than all others tested, yet not reflected in the price. Made in Co Dublin.
7
