Soup is a food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables in stock or hot/boiling water, until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth.

Romanian potato soupTraditionally, soups are classified into two broad groups: clear soups and thick soups. The established French classifications of clear soups are bouillon and consommé. Thick soups are classified depending upon the type of thickening agent used: purées are vegetable soups thickened with starch; bisques are made from puréed shellfish thickened with cream; cream soups are thickened with béchamel sauce; and veloutés are thickened with eggs, butter and cream. Other ingredients commonly used to thicken soups and broths include rice, flour, and grain.

One of the first types of soups can be dated to about 6000 BC. Boiling was not a common cooking technique until the invention of waterproof containers (which probably came in the form of pouches made of clay or animal skin) about 9,000 years ago.

Dessert soups

• Ginataan, Filipino soup made from coconut milk, milk, fruits and tapioca pearls, served hot or cold.
• Oshiruko, a Japanese azuki bean soup.
• Tong sui, a collective term for Chinese sweet soups.
• Fruit soups (see below)

Fruit soups

Fruit soups are served warm or cold depending on the recipe. Many recipes are for cold soups served when fruit is in season during hot weather. Some like Norwegian fruktsuppe may be served warm and rely on dried fruit such as raisins and prunes and so could be made in any season. Fruit soups may include milk or cream, sweet or savoury dumplings, spices, or alcoholic beverages such as brandy or champagne. Cherry soup is made with table wine and/or port.

Cold fruit soups are common in Scandinavian, Baltic and Eastern European cuisines while hot fruit soups with meat appear in Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Chinese cuisines. Cold fruit soups include krentjebrij.

Fruit soups are uncommon or absent in the cuisines of the Americas, Africa and Western Europe. They are also not seen in Japan, Southeast Asia or Oceania. The exception is cold fruit soups that are savory rather than (or in addition to) sweet. Examples:

• Winter melon soup is a Chinese soup, usually with a chicken stock base. It is a savory soup, often including other vegetables and mushrooms. Technically, the winter melon is a fruit, since it is a seed bearing body, but in practical use, it is a vegetable. Winter melon soup is often presented as a whole winter melon, filled with stock, vegetables and meat, that has been steamed for hours. The skin is decoratively cut, so that what is presented is a decorative centerpiece, smaller than a medicine ball, larger than a soccer ball, filled with soup. The flesh of the melon is scooped out with the soup.
• Gazpacho (from Spain) is a savory soup based on tomato, a New World fruit.

Cold soups

Cold soups are a particular variation on the traditional soup, wherein the temperature when served is kept at or below room temperature. They may be sweet or savory. In summer, sweet cold soups can form part of a dessert tray.

Asian soups

A feature of East Asian soups not normally found in Western cuisine is the use of tofu in soups. Many traditional East Asian soups are typically broths, clear soups, or starch thickened soups. Many soups are eaten and drunk as much for their flavour as well as for their health benefits.

Traditional regional soups

• Ajiaco - A chicken soup from Colombia
• Avgolemono - A Greek chicken soup with lemon and egg
• Bajajou - A soup of Slovakian origin. Ingredients include boiled cow intestines, chicken egg, onion and rice.
• Bird's nest soup is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.
• Borscht - A beet-vegetable soup originally from Ukraine and Russia.
• Bouillabaisse - A fish soup from Marseille (Southern France. Also made in other Mediterranean regions. In Catalonia it is called Bullebesa.
• Bourou-Bourou - A vegetable & pasta soup from the island of Easter Island, Greece
• Bisque - A thick, creamy, highly-seasoned soup, classically of pureed crustaceans, of French origin.
• Canja de Galinha- A Portuguese soup of chicken, rice and lemon.
• Caldo verde - A Portuguese minced cabbage soup
  Callaloo - A thick, creamy soup made with okra and, often, crab meat from Trinidad and Tobago
• Cock-a-leekie - Leek and potato soup made with chicken stock, from Scotland
• Clam chowder - two major types, New England Clam Chowder, made with potatoes and cream, and Manhattan Clam Chowder, made with a tomato base.
• Cullen Skink - A fish soup made with Smoked Haddock, potatoes, onions and cream from Scotland
• Egg drop soup, a savory Chinese soup made from cracking eggs into boiling water or broth.
• Etrog, a fruit soup made up from the citron used in Jewish Ritual at the feast of Succoth, is eaten by Ashkenazi Jews at Tu Bishvat.
• Maryland Crab Soup - A soup made of vegetables, blue crab, and Old Bay Seasoning in a tomato base. From Maryland, USA.
• Faki soupa - A Greek lentil soup, with carrots, olive oil, herbs and possibly tomato sauce or vinegar.
• Fanesca - A traditional cod soup from Ecuador
• Fasolada - Traditional Greek bean soup
• Fufu and Egusi soup - A traditional soup from Nigeria made with vegetables, meat, fish, and balls of ground melon seed
• Goulash - A Hungarian soup of beef, paprika and onion.
• Gumbo - A traditional Creole soup from the American South, thickened with okra pods.
• Íslensk Kjötsúpa - Traditional Icelandic meat soup made with lamb and vegetables.
• Kharcho - A Georgian soup of lamb, rice, vegetables and a highly spiced boullion.
• Lagman - A traditional Uzbek soup of pasta, vegetables, ground lamb and numerous spices.
• Lan Sikik - A Thai soup made with noodle, dried fish and tomato extract.
• Lentil soup - A soup popular in the Middle East and Mediterranean.
• Leek soup - A simple soup made from Leeks popular in Wales during St. David's Day
• Menudo - A traditional Mexican soup with tripe and hominy.
• Minestrone - An Italian vegetable soup
• Miso soup - A Japanese soup made from fish broth and fermented soy
• Mulligatawny Soup - An Anglo-Indian curried soup
• Noodle soup - A very diverse collection
• Patsás - A Greek tripe soup
• Snert - A thick pea soup, eaten in the Netherlands as a winter dish, traditionally served with sliced sausage. Also known as erwtensoep.
• Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup - A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania specialty, traditionally made with tripe.
• Psarosoupa - A Greek fish soup. There are various versions of it and could be made with a variety of fish types.
• Phở - A Vietnamese beef/chicken soup with scallion, welsh onion, cherred ginger, wild coriander (Eryngium foetidum), basil, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and black cardamom.
• Revithia - A Greek chickpea soup
• Scotch Broth
• She-crab soup - from Charleston, South Carolina, a creamy soup made with blue crab meat and crab roe.
• Shchav, a sorrel soup in Polish, Russian and Yiddish cuisines
• Solyanka - A cabbage soup from Russia
• Sour soup (fish soup) - A Vietnamese dish made with rice, fish, various vegetables, and in some cases pineapple.
• Tarator - A Bulgarian cold soup made from yogurt and cucumbers
• Trahana soup, from Greece
• Tomato soup (pomidorowa) - Traditional polish soup made of tomato concentrate
• Vichyssoise - A French-style soup invented by a French chef at the Ritz Hotel in NYC. French cold purée soup with potatoes, leeks, and cream.
• Waterzooi - A Belgian fish soup
• Żurek - A Polish wheat soup with sausages often served in a bowl made of bread.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Soup".

Join Soup of the Month Club today and enjoy a variety of delicious soups pre-selected by American and European soup connoisseurs. You'll be able to taste the most popular soups came from all around the world at discounted prices. You will also learn about many different types and qualities of soup and each package you receive from us will contain FREE Soup Tips. As a Soup of the Month Club member you'll automatically enroll in our FREE gifts program. Additionally, your choice of 12 Month membership Soup of the Month Club will entitle you to receive our $25 FREE Cash Certificate.

Join Soup Club Today and Get
First Month FREE