The Popular Soup Brand That Once Sold Canned Italian Tomatoes In The 1930s

Canned soup is one of those kitchen staples that's perfect for a rainy day or when you're feeling under the weather. Whether you prefer a certain brand of canned chicken noodle soup or love classic tomato soup, there are a few industry leaders that have become household names thanks to their soup offerings. One is Progresso, but back in the day, this popular soup company was known for producing canned Italian tomatoes.

You can thank Italian immigrant Giuseppe Uddo for founding Progresso. Uddo moved from Sicily to the United States in 1907 and built a business on importing well-known Italian ingredients, such as olives and tomato paste, and selling them to U.S. consumers. The company started in New Orleans, then moved to California and eventually to New York, where the name "Progresso" was first introduced. Uddo sold tomatoes, tomato paste, and other Italian-imported products up until World War II, when Progresso had to shift from imported foods to domestically grown foods because importing became difficult during the war. To do this, he purchased a factory in New Jersey, and that's where Progresso soup was officially born — and where his tomatoes subsequently lost popularity.

Interestingly, Progresso's factory was in Vineland — mere minutes from Camden, New Jersey, which is the birthplace and home of Campbell's Soup (Campbell's was founded in 1869). Soon after opening the factory, Progresso began making soups, too, to help keep business up during the winter months, when locally grown vegetables weren't available.

Progresso created different soups from Campbell's, which helped set it apart. It avoided the "condensed" soup idea and instead created soups that were ready to eat from the can — this also meant it was easier to eat the soup without heating it if you were truly in a time crunch. At the start of this brothy new venture in 1949, Uddo's company stuck more to its Italian roots by developing canned varieties of Italian wedding, minestrone, plus split pea and lentil soups. Progresso eventually discontinued its split pea soup, but throughout the 20th century, it continued gaining popularity for its soup line, which is now the main component of its brand (it still sells other products, like bread crumbs, beans, and artichokes). Today, Progresso no longer has any tomato-based products listed on its website that aren't soups, though it's unclear exactly when it stopped producing the tomatoes.