Frontier Soups Featured in Gourmet News and The Progressive Grocer
Jan 18th 2016
“Frontier Soups Introduces Two New All-Natural Additive-Free Mixes” by Greg Gonzales from Gourmet News - January 2016
Soup has warmed winter bones, soothed aching stomachs and brought families together over nutritious, steamy bowls for 20,000 years of human history. Frontier Soups continues this ancient, cross-culture tradition and meets current consumer standards with new, all natural, gluten-free soup mixes.
“I'm such an advocate for what our dried soup mixes bring to the marketplace, I call them meal inspirations,” said Trisha Anderson, Founder and President of Frontier Soups. “With a few fresh additions, you make a beautiful pot of homemade soup. What we are on trend with in the marketplace is the semi-homemade market. It lets people create in the kitchen, feed their families and eat a good meal. You're going to add fresh chicken, so you know it's a more quality product than what you're going to get out of a can.”
The two new soup mixes – Pacific Rim Gingered Carrot Soup Mix and the Kentucky Homestead Chicken & Rice Soup Mix – are freeze dried and mixed to provide an authentic flavor.
The traditional chicken and rice mix is made gourmet through its jasmine rice blend, which contains daikon radish seeds, baby garbanzo beans and Mediterranean ingredients like lemon and oregano. Anderson suggests fresh fennel and celery for cooks looking to amplify traditional flavors.
Frontier Sous' Thai-Indian fusion, the gingered carrot mix, brings new flavors to the kitchen with the addition of red lentils, which provide essential fiber and nutrients. Brown sugar and cayenne highlight and deepen the mild sweetness of the carrots, while coconut milk provides immune and digestive health benefits.
The soup mixes are all-natural and low in calories. They're also convenient; consumers can swap out suggested fresh ingredients to fit their personal diets, and the soups cook quickly.
“We use the term 100 percent natural because our ingredients have no added preservatives; they're dried, natural field products,” Anderson said. “No processing, no additives, to the products,” including no added salt, preservatives or MSG.
Healthy soups also help dieters lose weight. A Penn State study showed that eating a low-calorie soup before meals – or as a meal replacement – fills people up faster, resulting in their eating less.
“Your going to get a more substantial meal, and substantially more nutritious,” Anderson said. “And you can control the additions you add, so you're going to get quality and quantity. You're getting value, convenience and quality control.”
That's good for vegetarians and vegans looking for a tasty soup, or anyone who wants to try their own custom recipes. Animal-based ingredients can easily be replaced without sacrificing desired flavors. For example, chicken broth and chicken can be replaced with vegetable broth and seitan, respectively. “Vegetarians are very good at stacking recipes,” Anderson added. “The suggestion we give is to not use the beef in the stew, try mushrooms instead of the meat.”
Frontier Soups isn't new to the market, and it had fans before opening day. The company got its start in Anderson's home, when a friend suggested she package and sell the dry ingredients of her 11-bean soup. Thirty years later, the company has brought consumers 36 original soup mixes. And last year, after a year of training in the company, Anderson's son, Matt Anderson, was named CEO.
“The kitchen has been the drawing room of cultures.” said Anderson. It's where everyone in the family comes together.”
Find Frontier Soup mixes, including their 29 gluten-free options, at Kroger, Great Harvest Bread, Omaha Steaks, The Fresh Market, Whole Foods, Central Market, A Southern Season and www.FrontierSoups.com.
"Shelf-Stable Soup" by Bridget Goldschmidt from the Progressive Grocer - January 2016
When it comes to better-for-you offerings, Gurnee, Illinois based Frontier Soups has already carved out a comfortable niche in that segment. “Frontier Soups’ dry mixes appeal to consumers seeking healthier options because there is no salt added, no preservatives or MSG, and we require all suppliers to provide ingredients that are not genetically engineered,” notes company founder Trisha Anderson. “Also, soups, by their nature, are filled with foods consumers are trying to add to their diets, like beans, lentils and vegetables.”
Of Frontier’s latest soup mix offerings, Pacific Rim Gingered Carrot and Kentucky Homestead Chicken and Rice, Anderson notes: “Despite being very different soups in style, both of these soups cater to consumers’ desire to add highly nutritious foods to their diets.” She further notes, “Soup is a very versatile dish, and ... food producers can find success by coming up with creative ways to add ingredients that consumers are seeking to add to their diets in a way that is family-friendly.”