Where does all the goodness go? (Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup)

Member Name: berrydelight

Product:	Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup
Date:	19/09/09 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A family favourite, easy and tasty

Disadvantages: No helping towards you 5 a day apparently....

I love soup, for years I never touched Heinz tomato soup having convinced myself I didn't like tomatoes in general. Well now I do and following an accidental taste test quickly discovered that I love the stuff! I don't care what the commentators say homemade tomato soup just doesn't come close to recreating the canned stuff.

One tin provides 400g which they reckon serves two but I generally eat one to myself with some crackers and melted cheese to finish it off! Be warned that the values stated on the tin is only for half of a tin. The tin has the distinctive Heinz logo and branding and in any supermarket seemingly endless tins of the stuff can be found in bundles. For 4 in Tesco at the moment you'll pay £2 but on their own they cost 83p.

To heat is simple, pop in a pan on the hob and warm through or microwave for a few minutes. The soup does get incredibly hot so always worth stirring and checking the temperature before serving as its sticky and thick consistency makes a murderous scalding agent.

The soup is a deep orange colour, so distinct and recognisable its almost become a symbol for winter days and nights. Once heated it can be served on its own, with bread or when I am spoiling myself some fresh basil and parmesan. Just because its out of a tin does not mean it has to be dull!

The taste is difficult to describe but its thick and you can certainly taste the cream, the tang of the tomato after each mouthful is pleasant and balanced. As a meal this really does fill you up and the heat warms you through. It certainly has an addictive quality to it and as I wrote this review I wondered if it tasted a little artificial, you certainly know its processed!

Several years ago Heinz were forced to stop promoting their tomato soup as offering 2 of your 5 a day because of how processed the product is and the high levels of salt and sugar. Despite this I still think it does have some nutritional benefit and would definitely opt for this over a nutritionally flat chicken soup. 85% of your soup can is tomatoes and frankly I think that's pretty good.
The product does contain milk but is suitable for vegetarians and those on a gluten free diet.

A whole can is 220 calories, 2.6g of salt and a staggering 19.9grams of sugar. Devilish figures like that are what prompted Heinz to have to remove the 5 a day logo and do appear fairly heinous. The level of salt and sugar certainly explains its addictive nature but it is worth bearing in mind that most processed products have high levels of salt as they act as a preservative and most fruit juices have high levels of sugar as they are naturally occurring so on the whole it could be worse.

Now get this savvy shoppers, Heinz also do an organic tomato soup, looks the same, tastes the same but is cheaper at only 61p a can in Tesco, you do have to look for it but really is worth saving your pennies and opting for the organic variety instead.

Summary: A warming soup with according to the experts too much bad to be good!