Making soup - to sieve or not to sieve

[Stephenite]

The local shop was selling a few bags of Jerusalem artichokes and some bunches of celery at half price due to sell-by-date and I became inspired to make a soup!

The recipe I'm following says to sieve the simmered and blended ingredients. It seems like a waste of good veggie matter to me.

I'm not so very experienced in the kitchen arts.

What are the pros and cons of sieving? What can be done with the contents of the sieve?

 

[T4tomo]

Sieving can give a smoother velvety texture. With something like artichokes and celery it's a good idea as any stringy bits will get removed.

Contents of sieve into compost!

 

[KnittyNorah]

If the contents of the sieve are large and chunky still, then you could dump them into the next batch of stock being made by boiling up a carcase or other bones. If there is some 'body' remaining in them they will add a bit of flavour to the stock you are making with other things to be discarded such as the bones, outside leaves of veggies, clean peelings etc.
However, they probably won't be of use in this way if you did a thorough job with the blending so as @T4tomo suggests, the compost heap is a good home for them!

 

[Stephenite]

Thanks folks.

I tasted the soup before sieving and again after. The sieved soup is more ‘refined’ and, in comparison, less bitter than the unsieved.

The contents of the sieve are as pictured below. Not much to be done with it, I believe. Unless, times were very very hard.

I’m really impressed with this soup, I may add. It’s delicious. Even my veggie loathing pre-teen son loved it.

Recipe here . They do over-dramatize the blending though.

 

[Stephenite]

Here’s the sieved soup (or what’s left of it).

 

[Cycleops]

That looks delicious @Stephenite .
We've got a super duper blender that reduces even fibrous fruit to a smooth liquid. Never tried to do soup but will now.

 

[KnittyNorah]

That does look like a nice recipe, I am very partial to the flavour of cooked celery in stews and soups. But I adore Jerusalem Artichokes - sadly I've not seen any this year - in almost any form. Well, not raw of course!
I used to grow my own but no longer have an allotment and I used to see them in Booths (small NW England supermarket chain, of Waitrose+++ standard) but I now live very inconveniently for a Booths.

 

[Stephenite]

I too love cooked celery. Though, if I make this soup again (it was likely the last of the seasons J. artichokes) I’ll use a little less celery. Perhaps, three instead of four sticks - to allow the artichoke flavour to come through more. This soup tasted much like a celeriac soup which I had as a starter in a hotel restaurant in the summer.

And, I’m beyond pleased that my son guzzled his bowl down. I worry about his eating habits. It’s always been a struggle to get him to eat ‘proper’ food.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Watercress soup, sieved of course, with a dollop of creme freche on top, a nice baguette and some Lescure butter. That's the daddy for me

 

[oldwheels]

I just boil up Jerusalem artichokes like potatoes and very nice they are too. For smooth soup why not just blend them?
You can get non nobbly ones which can be easily peeled before cooking which are best.
They grow like weeds in my garden and the biggest job is keeping them under control.

 

[KnittyNorah]

They grow like weeds in my garden and the biggest job is keeping them under control.

When I had the allottment, I only planted them once and they kept coming up. I had a good harvest every year for several years - there were always a few I missed when digging them up, and they grew the next year.
Yes they are like a weed, but I wish all veggie plants were as easy to grow and as productive as Jerusalem Artichokes!