Bonnie: Growing up, tomato soup always made me feel better when sick, and is one of my comfort foods — especially on a cold winter’s day. This new chunky Tomato Bisque with its zesty flavor is no exception.

This soup is part of Campbell’s campaign to reduce sodium. In fact, Campbell’s reformulated its entire Select Harvest line of soups to give them a better nutritional profile. The line is now 100 percent all natural, defined by the USDA as food without artificial flavors, color preservatives or synthetic ingredients.

One cup contains 120 calories, 2.5 grams total fat, a decent 3 grams of fiber and 480 milligrams sodium. Some of you might think these soups aren’t salty enough, but you can get used to that just as many Americans have gotten used to drinking lower-fat milk. This soup (and the others in the line) – perhaps with two dashes of added table salt added the first time you try them, one dash the second – would be a good place to start.

Bryan: To Americans, the word Campbell’s is just about synonymous with the word soup. When you have such dominant brand recognition, what can you really do to grab attention? Well, you can continue to improve — and that’s just what Campbell’s has done. Over the past few years, Campbell’s has launched one of its most comprehensively overhauled soup collections ever; the Select Harvest soups. Though only introduced to supermarkets in 2008, the immense popularity of the Select Harvest line has already caused Campbell’s to go ahead and introduce 12 more varieties; the Select Harvest line now features 50 soups, all made from real, high-quality ingredients, with no MSG and no artificial flavors! This is a monumental step forward in the world of canned soup!

Though it’s kind of hard to imagine, the Select Harvest collection of soups is actually the first line from Campbell’s that is 100 percent natural; this means it contains absolutely no artificial ingredients of any kind, with natural sea salt and healthy sodium levels. This truly is a health-conscious step from Campbell’s, and one that I am very happy to see. While soup is generally thought of as “healthy” and “low-cal,” this is not always the case. You might be surprised to hear that many canned soups are very high in sodium and sometimes even in fat and calories (check your labels). Soup can be a wonderful addition to any healthy diet: It is a great source of vitamins and vegetables in a fiber starved world. But make sure your soups are actually real, and actually healthy!

Campbell’s Select Harvest collection takes advantage of a number of healthy ingredients while displaying a wide number of flavors. The line particularly features a number of Mediterranean-influenced soups, attempting to showcase the healthful ingredients key to the famed “Mediterranean diet.” In all, the 2009 additions to the collection include:
• Chicken with Egg Noodles
• Mexican-Style Chicken Tortilla
• Italian-Style Wedding
• Savory Chicken and Long Grain Rice
• Roasted Chicken with Rotini and Penne Pasta
• Minestrone
• Vegetable Medley
• New Chicken Tuscany
• New Zesty Tomato Bisque
• New Savory Sausage and Vegetables
• New Light Roasted Chicken with Italian Herbs
• New Light Minestrone with Wholegrain Pasta.

Which brings me to our man of the hour, the Campbell’s Zesty Tomato Bisque. It’s hard to pick a winner from such a massively varying crew, but at the end of the day, what’s really better than a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup? Nice to meet you Savory Sausage and Vegetables; I’ll be on my way…. The new Zesty Tomato Bisque has just that little touch of zing (read “onion and garlic,” though it still needed an extra kick of black pepper) that the original condensed Tomato Bisque doesn’t have (and the plain tomato soup never deigned to have). I went big, with grilled challah bread with cheddar cheese and pepper jack…. A mouth-watering sight and sensation is all I can say about it. As I dipped my oversized sandwich into the warm, hearty, all-natural soup, the only thing I wanted to change was my surroundings; this meal called for snowfall… mmm, mmmm, damn good.

Eric: Soup is synonymous with winter, and nothing (aside from a homemade chicken soup) can compare to the taste of a hearty tomato soup on a cold winter’s day. Campbell’s has stepped up the game on its newest line of 100% all-natural mmm, mmm good Select Harvest soups, and it shows with the flavor.

I was reluctant to try the new line from Campbell’s, as in the past I’ve been disappointed by its attempts at other personal favorites soups of Split Pea and Beef & Barley. The new Select Harvest soups, specifically the Zesty Tomato Bisque, have a unique flavor — similar to a homemade soup (although nothing truly compares). If you’re a tomato soup fan, than go no further — just heed my mother’s advice: Add a dash or two of salt, and of course, don’t neglect the crusty dipping bread.

Now at the Bite of the Best shop.