What Does It Mean When Soup Is Condensed?

As awesome as a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup is, not everyone has the time or the energy to cook up a pot when the mood strikes. That's why canned soups have become such a familiar sight in family pantries everywhere — cheap, convenient, and tasty, what's not to like? But if you've ever picked up a can of Campbell's at the store, you've probably wondered once or twice what the "condensed" line emblazoned across the label actually means. Spoiler alert: It's not regular soup.

According to Campbell's website (which proudly stated that they're the first company to make and sell condensed soups), condensed soup is basically regular soup with most of its water content boiled away. The result is a condensed stock that packs the flavor equivalence of two cans of regular soup. You can eat the soup stock as it is right out of the can, or put it to use as a cooking ingredient in recipes like scalloped potatoes , whose flavor can benefit superbly from soaking up the creaminess of condensed soup.

But let's say you want to turn it into a proper bowl of chicken noodle soup. In that case, you have to rehydrate it by adding water, then warm it up over the stovetop. This is why the serving instruction on the label of condensed soups will always be something along the lines of "mix soup + 1 can water"! Who made the first can of condensed soup? Campbell's claim to being the first to the market with condensed soup is totally legit.

After all, it's through them that they've now become pr.