Three small carrots, one medium yellow onion, three or four ribs of celery, one can of tomato paste, one small organic cabbage, navy beans, chicken stock. None of this seems like enough to make it this sweet. The cabbage had been in my fridge for over a month, so I do wonder if it gets sweet in the fridge like potatoes sometimes do.

and possibly the onions, if they were a sweet variety.

when cooked. The cabbage, too. The caramelized tomato paste.

A 6 ounce can I looked at has 21 grams of sugar which is over 5 teaspoons of sugar.

sweetness a great deal. I prefer sweeter. But you never know what you are getting. Enjoy your soup!

Carrots have considerable naturally -occurring sugars in them. If you roast or boil them, you'd notice a sweet taste even without adding anything else.

As to the tomato paste, some brands add sugar, but tomatoes too can impart a sweet taste.

Can get sweeter in the cold months. Cabbage can get sweeter, too.

Tomatoes, being fruits, contain a lot of sugars to begin with. Tomato paste is concentrated tomatoes- depending on the size of the can you could be adding several tomatoes’ worth of solids. Carrots and onions also contain considerable amounts of sugar to nourish the plants. When I use tomato paste I find that I often have to add some vinegar to tone down the sweetness

I have had this happen with turkey soup, and I really didn’t like the sweetness. I think it was the onion. Not Vidalia, BTW, just yellow.

like onions, carrots, cabbage, and even the beans. Low sodium broth let all the sugars come through. Smoky, salty cured meat might have counteracted the sugars. Garlic and heat can also help.

I'm fine with sweet veg and unsalted soups. It's only disconcerting when you're not expecting it.

(Yay for cooking the tomato paste before diluting it, but the Maillard reaction might have contributed some sweetness, too)

Thyme always seems to make things taste sweet--not my favorite herb.