Mayor’s soup to raise scholarship funds

Kale soup based on the recipe of Fall River Mayor William Flanagan’s Azorean grandmother is expected to be in area markets and restaurants soon, with the proceeds going toward a college scholarship fund for the city’s students.

The aim to raise a total of $100,000 in the first year of operation, through the sale of the soup as well as other fund-raising efforts, Flanagan said.

Blunt Fine Foods, a Fall River company that dates back to the 1880s, will be producing the kale soup, the ingredients for which are expected to include chourico sausage, kidney beans, diced vegetables and beef stock. Another local company will distribute the product, expected to be a hit among the city’s Portuguese-American population.

The label for “Mayor Flanagan’s Signature Kale Soup” will feature the mayor against the backdrop of the city’s Braga Bridge at twilight, with a “Made in Fall River” stamp also visible.

Flanagan, who is half Irish and a quarter English, said he has fond memories of the aroma of his grandmother’s soup simmering on the stove.

The idea to market the soup, he said, was inspired in part by a product that Buddy Cianci, then mayor of Providence, R.I., introduced in the 1990s: a line of marinara sauce based on his mother’s recipe.