Mmmmm...Heinz Cream of Chicken soup. I'm not so sure...

I bought a tin of this soup recently as it was on offer, 4 tins for £1.50. I immediately picked cream of chicken as I remember being a little girl and having it as some comfort food when I was feeling poorly. It was thick, tasty and made you feel all warm inside.

Appearance wise, nothing much had changed. It still was packaged in the traditional red can emblazoned with the recognisable Heinz logo on the front and in a 400 gram serving.

Being a more calorie conscious adult, I checked the nutritional information and I was pleasantly surprised. At just over 200 calories per can it isn't overly calorific but the saturated fat content is around 2g which isn't perfect but not food hell either. For good old fashioned comfort food I thought this was reasonable.

I decided one afternoon to try it for lunch with some crusty bread and heated it the conventional way in a pot on the hob. You can also microwave heat but I have found that some Heinz soups don't respond well to this and go a bit sticky for want of a better word. The soup heats up very quickly so make sure you keep an eye on it.

It looked pretty much the same although I did think the constancy was a little thicker than I remembered and there seemed to be less "chicken" bits in it.

Upon tasting I was very disappointed. All my childhood memories of the comforting taste of Heinz chicken soup were shattered.

The consistency definitely was a lot thicker and as one other reviewer mentioned was of a gloopy consistency. All I can say was it looked as though there was some sort of gelatine in it. My original suspicions were also confirmed when I noticed the distinct lack of chicken pieces in it.

This all pales into significance however when it comes to taste...oh wait a minute there is none! The flavour in no way resembled any chicken I have ever tasted. In fact the flavour was severely lacking. Not even a little salt and black pepper could cheer it up.

I must have persevered for all of 4 mouthfuls when I gave up and settled for some crusty bread and butter instead.

Overall I was extremely disappointed in this soup. It just wasn't as good as I remembered, whether they have changed the recipe or I was looking back through rose tinted glassed. It did not constitute good value for money, even at 4 for £1.50. I always thought Heinz was a reliable soup brand but after this experience I'm not so sure.