The Vintage Campbell's Canned Fruit Soup Boomers Might Remember - Tasting Table

"Campbell's advertised the fruit soup as an ultra-versatile secret weapon. It could be poured over cottage cheese, ice cream, or even meat as a sauce. It was a perfect addition to the Jell-O salads popular at the time. And it could be incorporated into desserts like chiffon pie. Not to mention its value as a standalone dish; Campbell's claimed a bowl of the stuff, hot or cold, in some fine dishware was about as classy and nutritious as it could get."

"Black cherry wasn't alone in Campbell's fruit soup rollout; two other varieties were introduced alongside it. One was prune soup, which also had pieces of apricot and orange. A 1959 ad for the fruit soups describes the prune option as "healthful," and therefore "something that men like." The other type was orange soup, which featured a clear broth with pieces of oranges, apricots, and white grapes."

Campbell's introduced canned fruit soups in the late 1950s, including Black Cherry with Burgundy, prune with apricot and orange pieces, and an orange soup with oranges, apricots, and white grapes. The company marketed these as versatile: pourable over cottage cheese, ice cream, meat, or used in Jell-O salads and chiffon pie, and served hot or cold as a standalone dish. Consumers did not embrace the sweet soups, and sales were insufficient to keep them on the market. Surviving cans and empty containers are now rare and can command high prices among collectors.

Read at Tasting Table