OK, not exactly. This just in for Consumer Reports:
Medicine isn’t the only remedy that can provide relief for a cold this season. Research has found that chicken soup seems to reduce congestion, so Consumer Reports screened 26 varieties to determine which were the better brands to test. The Original SoupMan’s refrigerated chicken vegetable soup was the only variety to garner an excellent rating. It had a stew-like consistency and flavorful taste which was described as “lick the bowl” delicious. But opting for excellent quality will cost consumers around $3 per cup.
For those on a budget, Lipton’s Soup Secrets, a dry mix with bits of chicken and pasta, but no vegetables, is a good choice, costing only twenty-eight cents per cup. Although basic, this variety was rated very good for its thin, tasty broth and was the only soup in the Ratings to be named a CR Best Buy. Although it lacked chicken, Bear Creek Country Kitchens soup mix was the only other brand to receive a very good rating due to its flavorful broth, vegetables and al dente pasta. It’s also a good value at eighty cents a cup, the second least expensive after Lipton’s Soup Secrets.
Consumer Reports began its testing with a blind tasting that ruled out a number of varieties due to obvious flaws such as a tinny taste or bitter herbs. The eight contenders that remained included SoupMan’s Chicken Vegetable soup and Lipton’s Soup Secrets and varieties from Bear Creek Country Kitchens, Campbell’s, Cugino’s, Healthy Choice, Rienzi and Trader Joe’s. Consumer Reports tried dry mixes, canned, pouches and refrigerated varieties.
Aside from flavor and price, Consumer Reports checked for calories, fat and sodium content. Most of the soups are low in fat, but high in sodium. Trader Joe’s chicken soup claimed to have 160mg of sodium per cup, but CR tests showed that it actually contained 664mg. All other labels were correct.
When I’m feeling terrible, I drag myself to the nearest pho place… If I’m too sick to leave the house, I’ll submit to Lipton with extra noodles… What makes you feel better? (Besides that hot toddy…)
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Responses to “News flash! Chicken soup cures colds”
November 30th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Yum. I like to eat soup at Saigon Le when I get the sniffles…any soup!
FYI - It looks like Garcia Wells has closed its doors…I hear a sports bar is going in there next…heard anything??? Also heard that El Porton is going back in to the location they had on Madison before they got raided for illegals - the spot that Square Foods just vacated.
November 30th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
Hot and Sour soup from anywhere except a can. It works like a charm every time I get a head cold and now my family swears by it too…
November 30th, 2006 at 10:02 pm
My dad used to make potato soup when anyone was sick & that usually fixed us right up. Paula Deen mentioned on a recent show that she did the same thing for her boys when they were growing up. If I’m eating canned soup, I also prefer the “double noodle” chicken noodle soup the same as you do, Leslie.
December 1st, 2006 at 11:25 am
When I have a head cold, I like Tom Yum (or is it Tom Kha?) soup - anyway, whichever one has the red broth! I have to have a tall glass of ice water to sip with it because it is soooo spicy, but it works for me, clears my congestion and shortens the duration of the cold.
December 1st, 2006 at 11:30 am
My comfort food? Curry! Usually a mild variety like Japanese curry or a Thai yellow curry. If I’m HORRIBLY congested, I might hit up Vik’s Chaat Corner (Berkeley’s best kept secret) for some of their small plates.
Also, there’s nothing like a big bowl of homemade chili or a good Irish stew when I’ve got the sniffles (but those usually require that I spend some time cooking).
December 1st, 2006 at 6:42 pm
Hot & Sour. C Fu’s has a good one. Balance of sour, sweet and heat.
All time favorite is a soupy version of Ma Pho Dofu as shown in the inaugural, or least very, very early, issue of the “original” “Eating Well”. Any way it was published in the early 1990’s.
How many of you have a recipe you have been making for 15 years or more? No changes, mind you, but just the way the first came across it.
I have a crab cake recipe that I have been making since around 1970. Everytime I think about trying a different recipe it’s a war and I always come out on the losing side.
December 2nd, 2006 at 11:34 am
Neil,
My grandmother’s chocolate cake recipe still exists in the form she gave it to my mother years before I was born and none of us have changed it in any way.
I also still make my fried chicken the exact same way my mom taught me when I was 8.
8 comment.