How to make soup taste better?

[oBakasan]

I buy a bunch of frozen greens from the local supermarket (mostly because I can't afford the fresh alternative right now). Because thawed greens aren't very tasty on their own, I heat them up together and end up with a sort of soup.

However, because I avoid things like stock cubes, butter and excessive salt the soup doesn't taste as good.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can add to make it taste better?

[Ravanous]

My soups usually contain things like a bit of sweet soy sauce (not that regular salty kind, believe it or not there are hundreds of kinds of soy sauce) and definitely some fresh thyme.

[Lisa McGregor]

As Ravenous mentioned, fresh thyme or other herbs are good. Dried herbs are also good, just don't use as much as they are more concentrated. So are onions, garlic, celery and carrots.They add a lot of flavour. What greens are you using for your soup?

Adding spices such as cumin, paprika, coriander and even some chilli powder will add lots of flavour.

enjoy
L

[Holistic Star]

To make things taste good you need to include all 5 tastes:

Sweet, Sour, Salty, Spicy / Bitter and Fat

Sweet - doesn't have to be sugar or honey, could be sweet vegetables such as carrot, parsnip or sweet fruit.
Sour - means acid, so a splash of lemon juice, apple cider vinegar etc
Salty - salt, or soy sauce, miso, celery etc
Spicy / Bitter / Pungent - your greens are very bitter, but you could also add garlic, chilli, ginger, spices, herbs, curry paste to round out the flavour.
Fat - again doesn't have to be a lot, but it gives food that 'mouthfeel' olive oil, avocado or a small amount of creamed coconut would work in your soup.


Experiement with different flavours, add small amounts of a flavour, taste, then ask yourself -
is this soup sweet enough?,
is this soup sour enough?
is this soup salty enough?
is this soup spicy / bitter / pungent enough?
does this soup have the right mouthfeel?

If anything is missing, add a little bit of a flavour you think will help and test again. You can add more than one food for each flavour. Some foods are in more than one category so for example a tomato will contribute to sweetness, but also sourness as it is acidic.

I have to say a soup made out of frozen greens would be quite bitter. Is there a farmer's market near you where you can buy fresh greens at a reasonable price?


So I would experiement with adding:

Sweet - carrot
Sour - lemon juice
Salty - salt,
Spicy / Bitter / Pungent - garlic, chilli, very small amount of curry paste
Fat - small amount of creamed coconut

or

Sweet - tomatos plus teaspoon honey
Sour - lemon juice
Salty - salt
Spicy / Bitter / Pungent - garlic, chilli,
Fat - avocado (blended in at end)

hope that helps

[Dimond]

For most soups adding oil like olive or flax seed or avocado, adds flavor. Sometime also a dash of sea salt. Then you can use herbs and spices. But then I'm talking about making soup using a high powered blender and not cooking it.

[ChefSalad]

Perhaps, you could just go ahead and use stock instead instead of water (which is pretty much what soup is supposed to be). They sell stock (also called broth (well, technically they're different, but in practice, no)) in jugs, so you don't have to use those disgusting bullion cubes.

Or you could make the stock yourself. It's fairly easy and cheap. To start, you take equal parts onion, celery and carrot. You're supposed to use the carrot tops, onion peel and tops (wash off the dirt and get rid of the papery peel) and celery leaves and bottoms. You can use the whole vegetable if you want. Add in meat (if you eat it), although just the bones and skin are needed if you do. Bay leaf and some salt and pepper are a must. To all that, add water. Boil for four to eight hours. Alternatively, do it a pressure cooker for like a half hour to fourtyfive minutes. Now this last step is where people get upset (but it's really necessary). Run the broth through a cheesecloth or strainer. Squeeze out all the juice. Throw away the pulp. It now has no flavor.

To that stock you just made, add your vegetables, noodles, chicken, whatever. That's it, you have soup that tastes good. For creamy soup, add in a few potatoes, and then puree just the potatoes in a blender and add them back in. You can also add actual cream (or it's equivalent) for creaminess.

[Dandelion]

I always sautee fresh onion, celery, carrots first in olive oil. It gives more depth to the soup. Braggs also makes a nice all natural herb seasoning. It seems to round out the taste when you need it.

Imagine or Pacific organic vegetable or chicken broths are great in a pinch if you don't have time to make your own stock. Soy sauce, curry and basil are also good to use when you want to add more flavour. Good luck.

[DayInTheLife]

Salt

[Rawvolta]

Salt can bring up the flavors beautifully - and we are talking about celtic sea salt ;-)
But what I've been using mostly is ..MISO, and it all depends on you and your "believe system " in raw food diet.
MISo, specially from THIS sorce is amazing probiotic. I have all their tastes and they've been given my soups amazing "winter" flavour.
Always - some ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, celtic sea salt, some CUMIN (! this one is amazing) plus turmeric.
Check my Thai Curry Raw Soup recipe HERE.

Now..I'm hungry...

[katexoxo]

I actually eat this like 3 times a week for dinner I crave it!

I soak some beans like lentils in the morning in a pot with water. when I get home I cook them. once they are done I add alllll my veggies like spinach, celery, broccoli, grated carrot/potato. usually add whatever I have in the house sometimes leftovers from salads and stuff during the day. oh and I always put some onion in there. I add them all at the very end after the beans are cooked as so I don't overcook the veggies too much (put onion in earlier though). then I add like a tablespoon of some good olive oil and a pinch of sea salt! so yummyyyyyyy

[dali]

i like to add quite a bit of chilli oil to soups with greens or a dash of sesame oil.

chopping asparagus and frying it in sesame oil along with little croutons that are sizzling and crispy is lovely added to soup before serving and of course some freshly ground black pepper.