"refrigerated" news and stories

Actually the opposite is true. Premium, fresh, refrigerator and frozen soups are the new big thing to hit supermarkets in the US. Lately soup has been increasing on the restaurant scene because consumers feel that soup has a healthy image. Even the Chains are jumping on the bandwagon; an example is the unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks special at Olive Garden.

Of the new pre-made supermarket soups, most notorious is the Original Soup Man products produced by Al Yeganah who was disparagingly spoofed as the "Soup Nazi" in the TV show Seinfeld. Mr. Yeganah's International Soup Kitchen was renowned in NYC for the amazingly delicious soups that Al served, also for the long lines and swift but curt service. Personally I thought Al was a culinary genius and I would drive from the NYC 'burbs on a regular basis to get his soup, especially the Seafood Bisque, with each quart having a whole peeled lobster, assorted fish, clams, mussels, and more. Sadly his global vacations to research new soups each year were longer and longer, until finally he didn't bother opening anymore. At least he is now back in business. His Soup Man soups are available frozen in five varieties in many supermarkets. The varieties are: Al's Garden Vegetable, Turkey Chili, Seafood Bisque, Chicken Vegetable, and Jambalaya, which sell for $4.99-$6.99 for a 15oz bag. Personally I think the ones I have tried are a bit salty but I like my salt levels low, but I noticed at in store tastings that many folks love his products.

Researchers at UC-Davis have found that cut fruit left in the refrigerator doesn't lose nearly as much of its nutritional value as they thought, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Over a nine-day period, six different types of cut, refrigerated fruit were compared to uncut, refrigerated samples and tested for amounts of vitamin C, carotenoids and phenolics. Sliced watermelon only lost 5 percent less C than whole watermelon and it retained the same amount of lycopene, the CS-T reported. One conclusion reached was that visual appeal and taste fade well before nutritional value does.