Fruit soups

The people at the New Covent Garden Food Co. have earned themselves a reputation for creating soup flavours here there and everywhere. “Oh, it’s Christmas, let’s do a Christmas soup! Oh it’s Easter, let’s do something for that! Oh it’s the second Tuesday of the month – let’s release a new soup!” Let’s face it, they’re brimming with soup ideas and their latest offering confirms it: fruit soups. Fruit soups, which can be guzzled, hot and steaming on a cold shiver of a day, or chilled on a scorcher.

We tried the Apple Vichyssoise and Beetroot & Redcurrant from the range, and realised looking out of the window, that it was neither chilly or scorchio. What temperature should we serve such a soup on such a non-descript day? We tried both soups cold at first, liking the savoury tang of the redcurrant, bolstered by the strong flavour of beetroot, and declaring the Apple Vichyssoise delicate and cooling. But for cold soups to work it needs to be hot, so our tip would be to heat both on serving if the weather is less than scorching. For those moments when the British weather surprises us with a heat wave, arrange a few ice cubes in the bottom of a bowl, pour over the soup and enjoy the cool refreshment of it.

Available from Waitrose.