Sugar in Tomato Ketchup Calculator: Check Content

Tomato ketchup is made up of tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, salt and various spices. One can change the spices to taste, but commonly one finds in it onions, pimento, coriander, flesh, cumin, garlic and mustard. Sometimes one adds also cinnamon celery or ginger to the mix.

In essence it is tomatoes with a kind of acid and sugar, that cooks together until the texture becomes dense and smooth.

All About Ketchup

Ketchup was not always based on tomatoes. Prior forms were prepared from fish, mushrooms, nuts or fruits. During the 18th century ketchup related to sauces from nuts, mushrooms or oysters, occasionally mixed with stone fruits.

The mushroom ketchup ranked among many fruitty inventions and apparently was the most liked of author Jane Austen. Only in the start of the 1800s arrived tomatoes on the scene. Before the 19th century the term ketchup could point to various thick sauces.

Ketchup and catsup simply are two different spellings for the same thing.

Heinz ranks among the most known brands of ketchup. In 1876 it first appeared on the market as “catsup”. Since 1907 the production reached 12 millions of bottles, and one exported it globally.

For its dense and rich flavors Heinz choose sweet, juicy, red ripe tomatoes. Every tomato in a bottle of Heinz Ketchup grew from seeds of the same company. It goes well with fries, hamburgers, hot dogs and sandwiches from meet.

Between ketchup and tomato sauce exists a clear difference. Ketchup has a bit of bitterness and smoothness. Tomato sauce usually is preserved or boiled product from tomatoes, that one uses for cooking, for instance with spaghetti.

Ketchup is sweeter and holds more added sugar than most tomato sauces. Tomato sauce has a more lightweight texture, does not carry vinegar and commonly includes other ingredients.

Homemade ketchup is prepared from basic ingredients with fresh tomatoes. Roma tomatoes and San Marzano variants work well. By adding onion one gives to ketchup extra structure and taste.

In homemade versions the cook can decide exactly the amount of sugar. Some old recipes use much less sweetener and spice than the modern store versions. Even so reaching the smooth texture can be quite difficult.

Store brands own special smoothness, that one hardly copies at home.

Some brands of ketchup, like that from New Georgia, cook by boiling in small batches with tomatoes maturing on vine and without corn syrup or concentrates. Those types use only half of the sugar and salt compared to mostbrands. Ketchup holds a bit of lycopene from tomatoes, but it has also a lot of sugar and salt.

Fresh tomatoes are much more healthy, because they carry more vitamins, fiber and water. Unusual variants, like ketchup from black garlic and ketchup from caramelized onions, also exist.