# Do You bring Canned Soups and Stews to a rolling boil before eating? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2019, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523 "2019-01-28T03:45:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/41 "2019-01-31T11:52:22Z")
What about canned peaches or pineapple? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/42 "2019-01-31T12:00:37Z")
Yes, I believe in British English you would say a “tin of beans,” “tin of peaches,” “tinned beans,” “tinned peaches.” There’s a Monty Python sketch in which a character requests “three tins of beans.” And I recall reading about “tinned peaches” in an Enid Blyto book when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/43 "2019-01-31T12:02:32Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Would the Brits say a ‘tin’ of baked beans? I think everything comes in a ‘can’ in American English except sardines. They come in a tin. Or did I just make that up? We also say “can of sardines” and “canned sardines.” Both literally and metaphorically — It’s like a sardine can in here! ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/44 "2019-01-31T12:06:03Z")
I wait until there are a good amount of bubbles, so just at the point that it’s starting to boil. However, if I happen to wait too long, I still don’t notice any change in flavor or texture. Of course, my experience is limited to Campbell’s Chunky and Progresso, and nothing milk/cream based. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/45 "2019-01-31T12:07:49Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Would the Brits say a ‘tin’ of baked beans? I think everything comes in a ‘can’ in American English except sardines. They come in a tin. Or did I just make that up? Agree with **WotNot** that the terms are synonymous here. Nobody would look at you askance if you said either “tin of beans” or “can of beans”. As an experiment I just performed a search on a couple of online grocery stores, and typing “tin” into the search box yielded suggestions of tinned fruit, tinned tuna, tinned pineapple, tinned salmon, tinned soup etc. Typing “can” suggested I might be looking for non-canned goods such as candles, Canderel, cannellini beans, can openers etc. (with a couple of exceptions.) However, examining most of the individual items returned by a search for tins told me that the packaging type for each one was a can. Make of that what you will. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/46 "2019-01-31T12:10:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Yes, I believe in British English you would say a “tin of beans,” “tin of peaches,” “tinned beans,” “tinned peaches.” > > There’s a Monty Python sketch in which a character requests “three tins of beans.” > > And I recall reading about “tinned peaches” in an Enid Blyto book when I was a kid. I meant “what about _boiling_ canned peaches”. I’m wondering if the OP feels the need to boil canned peaches or pineapple to kill off all the fruitcoodies and veggiegerms. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/47 "2019-01-31T12:33:41Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > I meant “what about _boiling_ canned peaches”. I’m wondering if the OP feels the need to boil canned peaches or pineapple to kill off all the fruitcoodies and veggiegerms. In terms of “canned” versus “tinned,” when I visited a friend in New Zealand in early 2016, he served us some home-canned peaches, but he corrected me and said, “they are _jarred_ peaches. :rolleyes:” ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/48 "2019-01-31T15:35:06Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > In terms of “canned” versus “tinned,” when I visited a friend in New Zealand in early 2016, he served us some home-canned peaches, but he corrected me and said, “they are _jarred_ peaches. :rolleyes:” Similarly, my very Ocker aunt was visiting and asked how my seasonal _bottling_ was going. Or “bo’ling”, with a glottal stroke. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/49 "2019-02-01T19:43:19Z")
> [@Clark\_Cello](#): > > When people talk about bulging cans, they are usually talking about botulism, and if your canned food is infected with botulism, boiling for a couple of minutes isn’t going to do any good. This. If there are pathogens in your canned soup, the danger isn’t the living bacteria, it’s the toxins that they’ve excreted into the soup for god knows how long. Boiling isn’t going to protect you from any real threat here. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/50 "2019-02-01T21:03:03Z")
Some soups, like Campbell’s Condensed Chicken Noodle, I eat at room temperature right out of the can! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/51 "2019-02-01T21:06:15Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Some soups, like Campbell’s Condensed Chicken Noodle, I eat at room temperature right out of the can! It happened to me when I was served Campbell’s Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup by someone who didn’t know that it was supposed to be diluted. I found it way too salty and could tell immediately somethign was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/52 "2019-02-03T20:10:37Z")
No matter what the knobs say, the burners of the stove in our crappy apartment have 3 temperatures: surface of the sun (which takes a looooong time to achieve), warmish, and off. Since I don’t want food burnt the the pan, I never boil canned soup, and we have to be very cautious when we really do have to boil something, like rice or noodles. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/53 "2019-02-03T20:23:57Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Most tins of soup specifically say that you shouldn’t bring them to the boil as this “will impair the flavour”. > . By GOD, I enjoy reading English peoples’ posts. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/54 "2019-02-03T20:24:38Z")
How do you decide how long to reheat things like canned soup? Personally, I set the microwave timer to the midpoint of the time range in the instructions. So if it says heat for two to three minutes, I’ll set the microwave for 2.5 minutes. And I do the same thing for frozen meals, at least until I’ve prepared something enough times to know if it needs more or less time. (And, BTW, usually I dump the contents of a can of soup in a [microwave-safe mug](https://www.corningware.com/products/5696/meal-mugs) that I can then eat from. It means only one dish to clean, instead of having to clean a cooking pot and a bowl.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523/55 "2019-02-03T21:09:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Nope I just warm it up until it’s at serving temp. Just a little hotter than that, but yes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-canned-soups-and-stews-to-a-rolling-boil-before-eating/828523.md?page=2)