If the cook does not have sufficient time to go
through the various processes involved in making soup, their family need
not be deprived of this article of diet, for there are a number of
concentrated meat and vegetable extracts on the market for making soups
quickly. The meat extracts are made of the same flavoring material as
that which is drawn from meat in the making of stock. Almost all the
liquid is evaporated and the result is a thick, dark substance that must
be diluted greatly with water to obtain the basis for a soup or a broth.
Some of the vegetable extracts, such as Japanese soy and English
marmite, are so similar in appearance and taste to the meat extracts as
to make it quite difficult to detect any difference. Both varieties of
these extracts may be used for sauces and gravies, as well as for soups,
but it should be remembered that they are not highly nutritious and are
valuable merely for flavoring.
