Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
SLIM PICKINGS
WHAT: Simply Asia broth
STATS: Varies by flavor. A serving (one cup) of the Japanese Inspired Soy Ginger Chicken Broth contains 40 calories and 1 fat, 2 carbohydrate, zero fiber, 2 sugar and 5 protein grams. Visit mccormick.com/simply-asia/ products.
THE SKINNY: Wanting to soup up your soup game? Asian soups like ramen and pho are especially hot varieties.
Simply Asian (which we didn’t realize was owned by simply American McCormick) has introduced two flavored broths: Japanese Inspired Soy Ginger Chicken Broth and Vietnamese Inspired Pho Beef Broth. Add meat, vegetables and noodles (recipes on packages) for fully loaded soups.
I used the chicken variety in an Instant Pot version of Thai coconut chicken soup (recipe at tinyurl.com/coconutsoup). I was expecting the boxed broth to be highly aromatic, but its fragrance was minimal with no detectable ginger note. While the final product was fine, I felt it had less to do with the broth and more to do with the other pungent soup ingredients (ginger, sesame oil, lime).
Besides, this boxed broth poses a challenge. It comes in a 26-ounce package, when many recipes call for 32 ounces of broth. One will have to add water to get the desired amount, thus diluting the already weak product further.
We’ll be sticking with plain, less expensive broth. Pho sure.