Is curry ketchup just ketchup with curry powder?

Question

We use both tomato ketchup and curry ketchup as condiments in Belgium. On the curry ketchup label, amongst other ingredients is "curry (1%)".

So I tried adding curry powder to regular ketchup to see whether I could end up with curry ketchup, but I think the taste was off. The colour was close though.

I know "curry powder" is a spice mix that can differ, but is curry ketchup really just ketchup with curry powder added? Or do they mean a bit of a real curry (the dish)? Or are there other differences? Is it possible to make curry ketchup with regular ketchup?

Asked by Mien

Answer

I suppose the Belgian "curry ketchup" is similar to the German varieties and no, they are usually not only seasoned with curry powder, but also other spices. There is no standard seasoning mix for curry ketchup, but common additional spices are ginger, black pepper, paprika, cayenne or other chili powders. I also think that some brands contain onions.

The brownisher colour of curry ketchup is mostly because of the turmeric in the curry powder, so just adding the powder to regular ketchup will get you a colour match even without the additional spices or ingredients.

Answered by Tor-Einar Jarnbjo

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What is the purpose of the sugar in ketchup?

Question

Most ketchup recipes - even homemade ones - include several tablespoons of sugar. Commercial ketchup often has lots of high-fructose corn syrup. What purpose does all of this sugar serve in a ketchup recipe?

Asked by KatieK

Answer

High fructose corn syrup is a preservative. While sugaring your ketchup is good for flavor, HFCS is great for shelf stability, as is the vinegar.

The reasons you typically see HFCS in American Ketchups is that it is (1) heavily subsidized and domestic and cheap, (2) farmed by the same companies making the tomatoes, and (3) a preservative. Also, it helps to improve flow while maintaining viscosity.

Sugar generally can be used to cut the acidity in a tomato dish without inhibiting the taste or outshining the tomato. My stepfather had digestion issues with high acidity meals and swore by a teaspoon or two of sugar to help aid the stomach issues. Likewise, the acidity of ketchup may well be mitigated by all the sugar.

Answered by mfg

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Why condiments expiry date is rounded?

Question

Many condiments such as katchup, mayonnaise and mustard (where I live at least) seem to love rounding all of their expiry dates to "60 days after opened".

Thing is, I never see any difference after the date, at least with mustard. It's easy to consume katchup or mayo under a couple of months, but I only like mustard for very few things, so I have some black mustard from ~3-4 months that tastes just as good.

What is weird to me is that they round the expiry dates. Are they just lazy and think "nah, nobody takes more than two months and it should last that long"?

Asked by Camilo Martin

Answer

Food quality isn't binary; it doesn't go from perfectly good to perfectly bad in an instant. Even if it did, the time it would take depends on the storage temperature. And for non-liquid foods, it's possible that only a part went bad (how well does it mix?).

So, you don't get a precise date, but a rough interval at which time the decay starts to set in. As a result, the manufacturer will just pick a rounded date from that interval.

Example: the engineers might calculate that under reasonable circumstances, the product may start to noticably deteriorate after 52-75 days, and become dangerous after 81-112 days. They manufacturer could then say that the expiry date would be 60 days.

(The other answers explain why you'd use the first interval, but not why they're actually intervals.)

Answered by MSalters

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