Retail microwaveable soups often come in plastic containers or bowls. The seal is peeled back on one corner or removed to vent the soup, and it’s microwaved and immediately consumed, often in the same container. Aseptic packaging is an emerging category for refrigerated soups.
For foodservice, soups typically come in large plastic pouches, which are placed in 180ºF to 190ºF water baths, not boiled (to prevent breaking of any creamed soups), and heated to 165ºF for proper food safety. This can take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Multiple soups can be heated in the same pot, and even put directly in a steam table if the holding time and table temperature will bring the soup to the proper temperature before serving. The soups also can be taken out of the pouches and heated in double boilers. These procedures are easy for an unskilled kitchen worker to manage. To embellish the soup, chefs can add signature ingredients and garnish, adding variety and the restaurant’s own mark.
As with any soup in restaurants, refrigerated soups are held for service either in a steam table or in a double boiler. This is where abuse is most likely to occur, and where evaporation can alter the quality of the soup. There is the option of retherming only small portions at a time (unlike frozen soups where the entire package must be thawed and heated). But this also gives the refrigerated soups a shorter shelf life, since once the plastic pouch is opened, it must be used within a short period of time—usually three to five days, depending on the type of soup.
However, with the option of ½ gallon (4 lb.) and 1 gallon (8 lb.) packages that easily fit into a self-serve soup well, it is unlikely, with high enough volume, that soup would need to be re-refrigerated and reheated at another time.
Processing considerations
Refrigerated soups, remarkably, are made very similarly to from-scratch soups. The highest-end soups in this category are cooked one kettle at a time and rapidly chilled to ensure quality and extend shelf life. This pasteurizes the soup and maintains the soup’s from-scratch quality, according to Patty Principato, vice president of research and development, StockPot division of Campbell Soup Company, Woodinville, WA.