Feel the chill: cold savory soups.(Back to Basics)

While cold soup has its fans, it's often passed up in favor of a cold salad after only a moment's hesitation. It's an understandable reaction. After all, soup promotion is based entirely on hearty, comforting, warming qualities. It's a thing to chase away chills, not give them.

But that may be changing. According to market research, chilled soups may soon represent as much as twenty percent of the soup market. Part of the reason is a growing appreciation for the quick health fix that some of them provide. The American Institute for Cancer Research believes people will be looking to chilled soups as a convenient way to get servings of vegetables while curbing the appetite for the remainder of the meal.

Health considerations aside, the real beauty of cold soup lies in its simplicity. Soups made for chilling tend to be based on a …