Not as good as it used to be! (Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup
Date:	12/08/09 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fairly flavoursome, easy to prepare

Disadvantages: The tomato flavour is not as strong as it used to be, the soup also isn't as creamy, very expensive

They've changed the recipe, they definitely have. I've not eaten tinned tomato soup for some years now thanks to an ever expanding supply of fresh tomatoes that my greenhouse is producing seemingly by the week, but whenever tinned tomato soup is called for it just has to be Heinz. There's something about the smoothness, the richess, the..... well, it's all irrelevant now as they've changed the recipe!

I heat mine on the hob for a few minutes, this is one of those soups that you must never allow to boil otherwise it will lose a lot of flavour and will also become a little tinny in taste. The colour is absolutely divine, some say that Heinz Tomato Soup looks very synthetic and I suppose it does but the rich orange/red colour is extremely appetising to me and this is made even more so by the gorgeous aroma which rises in the steam from the soup.

The texture of the soup is very smooth with absolutely no 'bits' in it whatsoever. I love this as although I am a fan of chunky soups I do find smooth soups to be rather creamier and this is absolutely right when it comes to tomato soup.

I used to love the flavour of this soup. It was rich and thick with a distinct (if a little synthetic) tomato flavour which would warm the cockles of anyone who ate it. Now it's bland and a bit too salty. I don't know what Heinz have done but the flavour of their tomato soup is just not as rounded as it used to be, the tomato is much more muted and the creaminess has also been reduced in the overall flavour of the soup. It just lacks flavour in my opinion, and that's from someone who used to shun even home made tomato soup for this tinned version.

The saltiness comes through more as an aftertaste than anything, while I was eating I could taste that it's a little saltier than usual but after finishing my bowl today I was aware of just how much extra salt is in the soup as the salty taste lasted longer than that of the tomatoes!

I'm going to add here that this soup is EXTREMELY expensive and at 82p for a normal sized the price has almost trebled since the last time I bought it.

It's a national favourite, I know that, but I have been left disappointed by this new recipe (however new it may or may not be). This is definitely not the soup I loved for so many years and although it was still tasty enough I'm afraid I won't bother buying it again as the flavour is sadly lacking.

Summary: Progress is NOT always welcomed!