Soup Starter

Original Swift Soup Starter can

Soup Starter (originally called Homemade Soup Starter) was a base mix for homemade soup that came out in 1981.

It was essentially dehydrated vegetables, shell macaroni and dry soup stock (the carrot slices were always strangely warped in impossible shapes, like a vinyl record left out in the sun all day long and they never really re-hydrated no matter how long you simmered it.) And it was pretty salty. But it wasn't bad and did make the kitchen smell good when you made it.

It was first made by Swift, then Beatrice (after Beatrice acquired Swift)

After Beatrice was acquired by private equity firm KKR in 1990, the brand was spun off to Borden and it's Wyler's subsidiary. Wyler's also made Soup Starter's biggest competitor, Mrs. Grass soups and the brand began disappearing. By 1995, Wyler's was a Heinz product and Soup Starter has all but vanished in most parts of the country.