State Is Rich Territory For Packaged-Soup Makers

Among all those packaged and canned soups at the grocery, one batch comes closest to the old-fashioned, made-from-scratch kind.

These are the packaged dried beans, lentils, peas, grains and the like that you have to cook but have built-in help: a seasoning packet.

Check the labels and you'll find that quite a few are made in our state. Some of them: Seattle Soup, Legumes Plus, Buckeye Beans & Herbs and Aunt Patsy's Pantry.

Another well-known local brand, Nile Spice, makes nearly instant soups sold in paper cups.

Why so many packaged-soup makers here?

A big reason: Eastern Washington grows vast crops of the legumes and grains used in so many soups.

Lentils Plus, a packaged-soup maker in tiny Fairfield, Spokane County, sits surrounded by lentil fields. The Palouse region's rolling farmlands also yield peas, barley and other grains, and the Columbia Basin produces beans for drying.

Started in 1989, Legumes Plus makes 12 different soups (and three salads), sold in upscale groceries here and nationwide.

On the outskirts of Spokane, Buckeye Beans & Herbs makes packaged soups sold both nationally and internationally.

This company, co-owned by Jill and Doug Smith, also makes Aunt Patsy's Pantry soups. The main difference: Unlike Buckeye, most Aunt Patsy's soups don't call for adding meat.

"When we started, we found that so many people did not know how to make a good-quality soup" at home, says Jill Smith. "Our goal was to make good-quality food easy."

For many cooks, seasonings are the stickler, and that's where packaged, noninstant soups come to the rescue. Smith says her company's products contain 14 to 16 different herbs and spices, a number busy home cooks might find hard to match.

The assortment of main ingredients also would be impractical for many cooks. Witness the variety in Seattle Soup's 15 Bean and Beef Soup, which also has dehydrated potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, spinach and seasonings.

Despite the name, though, don't look for beef in this mix. That you add yourself. The same holds for Aunt Patsy's Pantry Chicken Thyme Soup - you add the chicken and an onion while the mix provides barley, brown rice, yellow split peas, red lentils and seasonings.

Most noninstant, packaged soups call for adding one or two ingredients at home, which may be part of their appeal. While a lot of the work is already done, tossing in this or that gives the soup a homemade feel. A bit of advice, though:

-- Some of the soups could use a flavor boost from fresh vegetables or extra seasonings.

-- It pays to read the directions before buying a packaged, noninstant soup. Some are ready to eat in 30 minutes to an hour. Others require several hours of soaking or simmering.