Good soup often improves in flavor after resting, as ingredients absorb flavors and undergo chemical changes. This deepening of flavors is due to liquid-soluble compounds moving from areas of high to low concentration. Absorbent ingredients like potatoes soak up broth, while spices penetrate others. Processes like the Maillard reaction lead to a sweeter taste from starch breakdown and a richer umami flavor from proteins. These adjustments create a rounder, mellower flavor, making leftover soup a culinary delight.
Potatoes and other absorbent veggies have a chance to soak up that flavorful broth, while spices and seasonings can permeate the toothy ingredients more fully.
Over time, liquid-soluble flavor compounds move from areas of higher concentration to lower concentration, balancing and deepening the overall flavor profile.
Those interplaying flavors need a chance to meld, which is why leftover soup often tastes better the next day.
After a day or two, the overall flavor profile of a soup balances and deepens, becoming rounder and mellower.
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