DNA Right Choice: Choosing the best ketchup

How do you like your ketchup? Thick or runny? Tangy or mildly sweet? People have varying tastes, but tomato ketchup is the condiment of choice with fast food at restaurants and homes around the world. People eat ketchup as an accompaniment to fries, burgers, samosas and even idlis. To gauge consumers’ preferred ketchup brands and why they like them, we conducted a taste test using five ketchups from Kissan, Maggi, Heinz, Smith & Jones and Del Monte.

What we did
At LS Raheja College in Santacruz, Mumbai, 120 students between the ages of 15 years and 20 years participated in a blind taste test led by our experts. Each participant was asked to taste two unmarked brands of ketchup with french fries and tell us which they preferred and why. We ensured that all the brands were tested against each other an equal number of times but in a different order.

What we found
The results were close, but Kissan narrowly came out on top overall. It was the preferred brand in 58% of its head-to-head taste tests. One tester said, “It was sour and thick, exactly how I expect ketchup to be.” Another liked its flavour: “It does not have the bland tomato taste,rather seems to have another flavour in it as well.” Maggi comes a close second with 54% of people preferring it in its head-to-head tests, and it was widely praised as not being too sweet. “The taste of the tomato is prominent and it is thick,” said a tester. Next is Heinz, with a 48% preference in its head-to-head tests. It elicited a mixed response, and while it contains the least amount of tomato pulp, many thought it had high amounts of the fruit. Some did not like its sour taste, and others felt it was too sweet. One of the tasters thought it was “tasteless”, and another said it was sweet and spicy. Only 46% of the tasters preferred Smith & Jones over the other four brands they also tasted – many found it too sweet though some of our tasters preferred it because of its sweetness. Del Monte was the least preferred ketchup at 44%. Some liked its sweet taste while others thought it tasted like ‘homemade sauce’. A taster who didn’t like it said: “It seemed average in taste.” However, keeping in mind that while there are subtle percentage differences, there was no real statistical difference between the popularity of the different brands. Ultimately, your choice should be from personal preference.

Onion and garlic powder
Dehydrated onion and garlic are powdered and added to the sauce for flavour. Powdering extends the shelf life of onions, and while onion powder is not considered a significant source of nutrition, it does contain certain vitamins and minerals. It is also free of saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol.

Garlic powder has the sameproperties as that of garlic, and helps inthinning blood. It creates small reductions incholesterol levels and helps strengthen theimmune system.

Tomato paste
Tomatoes are cooked for several hours to reduce their moisture, after which they are strained, the skin and seeds are removed, and they are further reduced into a thick paste. Tomatoes contain lycopene, but ketchup cannot be the sole source of lycopene in your diet.

Preservatives
These are added to prevent the deterioration of food by micro-organisms. Excessive amounts of preservatives, whether natural or artificial, can be harmful.

Salt and sugar
These are essential for taste and as preservatives, but are harmful if they exceed permissible limits. The recommended daily allowance for sugar is 20g and 6g for salt. The sugar used in ketchup is fructose, which reduces levels of the hunger-suppressing hormone obestatin while increasing the hormone ghrelin, which induces hunger.

Surprisingly, none of the brandsfeatured here listed the amount ofsodium their product contained.Ketchup has a high sodium content andcan harm those with high bloodpressure. High sodium intake isassociated with severe cardiovasculardisease, stroke and even heart attack.

Acidifying agent
Improves taste and retards the growth ofsome micro-organisms in the sauce. It also helps maintain a constant acid balance in food.

Kissan fresh tomato ketchup
Price Rs105/kg
Sugar26g/100g
Tomato28%
Calories130kcal/100g

Maggi rich tomato ketchup
Price Rs105/kg
Sugar12.7g/100g
Tomato28.1%
Calories118kcal/100g

Heinz tomato ketchup
Price Rs72/500g
Sugar22g/100g
Tomato26%
Calories109kcal/100g

Smith & Jones tomato ketchup
Price Rs105/kg
Sugar25g/100g
Tomato28%
Calories 140kcal/100g

Del Monte tomato ketchup
Price Rs70/500g
Sugar 25g/100g
Tomato 29%
Calories 156kcal/100g

Expert’s verdict
“Most of these brands fall under a similar bracket in terms of calorific content. If used in moderation, ketchup is alright. However, prolonged excessive consumption could pose a health risk in terms of increased risk of hypertension, diabetes and other cardiovascular problems due to its sugar and sodium content, and other stabilisers and preservatives,” said  Chandni S Kagalwalla, nutrition consultant at Nutricare in Mumbai.

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