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condiment Ketchup taste testers needed- limited supply

Thanks for the comments DR. I appreciate you and your Lovely taking the time to share.

#4 seems to be leading the race, so I'll probably revisit that one. I think I can use things like tamari and tamarind to get some of the flavor of Worcestershire without all the ingredients and fish.

I agree that the clove/allspice is a little heavy in #4. #5 and #6 had less of those and a bit more heat. Interestingly, #6 has the same spice measurements as #5, only difference is the use of sucralose instead of brown sugar. Others also commented about #6 having a more pronounces ACV flavor. I think the brown sugar tones down the ACV.

Thanks again, everyone!
SL
 
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I must admit, just like Ann said many chili heads mix our own & Sir Kensington has been my base.



How do I judge spicy ketchup? What do you look for?
The test below was just what I needed to judge them right.
Look at the prices on some of the different brands, it's like the Spaghetti sauce wars of the 70s & 80s LOL.
Until now I had no idea there were so many ketchups on the market.
uproxx.com

20 Grocery Store Ketchups, Blind Tasted On Dogs And Fries & Ranked

We blind taste-tested 20 bottles of ketchup in a single sitting in search of the very best. And good news -- we found it!
uproxx.com uproxx.com
 
salsalady said:
only difference is the use of sucralose instead of brown sugar.
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Pro-tip: You want to be carful with brown sugar. You can easily turn ketchup into BBQ sauce with molasses and smoke. And since you are thinking about a smoky one as well, I'd just be very careful with brown sugar, which has molasses, notably on the worcestershire version which can also tip it that direction. I opted for turbinado which has a slight caramelized flavor. I also have coconut sugar which I reserve for my Thai curries but I was so tempted to try it. Anywho. Just looking out for you. Looks like a good polling and nobody said BBQ so that's good! Just something to think about.
 
Marturo said:
I must admit, just like Ann said many chili heads mix our own & Sir Kensington has been my base.
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I like some of their stuff. For me they miss the mark on a lot of it but I like the dijon best of their line.
Downriver said:
First of all, it should be known that Heinz is the ONLY ketchup worthy of the name, and all others are imposters, fakers or wannabes. That said, let's do this!
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💯! I might be a snob but I buy the Heinz Organic. Heinz is matchless. Nobody gets it that silky smooth with just the right balance of everything. If you want to try one of the "fancy" brand ones try Annie's Organic. It's mad cheap, you can get a huge bottle, an it comes very close. And I have tried them ALL!

Maybe now we'll have a good runner up with @salsalady! (hehe). You know, cuz you can't beat Heinz. Or can you? 😨
 
Thank you Marturo for sharing that taste test. There are some very good comments, and 17 sauces i have not heard of! Not surprising...considering where we live and it is tough getting the horse and buggy 90 miles to Wenatchee in the winter...
;) :lol:


For new folks, we get our internet in the Methow valley via Pony Express....
 
The Hot Pepper said:
💯! I might be a snob but I buy the Heinz Organic. Heinz is matchless. Nobody gets it that silky smooth with just the right balance of everything.
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Clearly you and @Downriver are true ketchup connoisseurs👌 👌 That being said, I didn't think I could be categorized as "snob" until I read this post (I'm a regular organic ketchup customer too)😅

This is a fun thread to read and I hope you find that perfect balance @salsalady
 
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Thanks, Boss.
Lucky Dog used to take unlabeled bottles to picnics and subtly leave it on the table and listen to comments. Brilliant idea I dont mind swiping. When developing my first sauces i did not have the wonderful resource known as THP. Since finding THP, I appreciate the feedback from peers. I understood a long time ago that friends and family will give platitudes, get strangers for honest feedback.
 
Ann, It's just a thought but perhaps some black garlic might be a nice addition. I just went through the process of making Black Garlic. It has a unique taste that might approach tamari/tamarind in a way. The end product would be darker though.
I have just started trying to use it in hot sauce, butter BBQ etc...
I can imagine it might be great in a specialty ketchup mixed in the right hands.
 
Ah yes and worcestershire is fermented, black garlic is fermented, adding this in could add some of that depth with the tamarind combo. Tamari/soy also fermented components but that black garlic could add a lot of complexity, which wocestershire has. Good suggestion imo.
 
However I don't think I've ever had black garlic. Must try,
 
Has anyone ever dehydrated black garlic? (I'm sure it exists in google lol). My thought here is to dehydrate it and turn it into a garlic powder for use in a ketchup in order to get that ketchup super incorporated/smooth.
 
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Technically if the sugars or starches are converted to a different product, it's fermenting. If it's simply caramelizing, then no it is not. Like I said, I've never even tried it lol. Sounds good tho.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
Technically if the sugars or starches are converted to a different product, it's fermenting. If it's simply caramelizing, then no it is not. Like I said, I've never even tried it lol. Sounds good tho.
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It's not too hard to make it. It really just takes time. I used a crock pot that had a keep warm setting. I wrapped the garlic bulbs tightly with foil and them placed them into a crock-pot liner bag and closed it up tightly. I used a mix of elephant garlic and regular white. I decided to check it at 15days and found it was done. It did find some of the smaller bulbs had dried out a bit too much. The elephant was perfect and has a really unique taste and smell. Its sweet and really not like garlic at all.
The next time I do this I'll check sooner and try to keep the bulbs from touching the bottom and sides of the crock-pot. The trick is keeping the humidity up for the full duration.
I did this in the garage and was glad I did. The garlic smell was overpowering for about a week. I'm not sure how much my dog liked it!
They call the conversion to black a Maillard reaction of acids and sugars.
I'm still playing around with it and have made infused butter, some dried spice and added some to a recent hot sauce.
 
Thanks for the suggestion McBob. And the following comments. I used black garlic in a novelty sauce a few years ago. Interesting product. It was for a sauce called Nightmares. Almost Everything in the sauce was black.
nightmares snip.PNG
 
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