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konart

I still can't unserstand why would anyone prefer Heinz to anything else. It has almost no flavor except vinegar...

Don't tell me you have nothing to chose from in the US?

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Vinegar? I avoid Heinz because all I can taste is sugar

I prefer Heinz because it is the least sweet tasing of the large ketchup brands. Taste is weird.

You should try Primal Kitchen ketchup. No added sugar but somehow still a bit sweet, probably from the tomatoes. If it's all I eat then I don't notice a difference, but if tried side by side with Heinz, Heinz tastes like sugar paste.

https://www.primalkitchen.com/products/organic-unsweetened-k...

Onion powder can be incredible sweet. I would assume that's the trick there.

Heinz is ambrosia compared to the sweet and runny house brand ketchups at your average supermarket.

Are you from the US or another country? Heinz uses different ketchup recipes in different countries and I personally think there is a huge difference. In the US, it is by far the best ketchup, but I hate the heinz in Canada.

https://www.livingabroadincanada.com/2009/05/13/why-does-ket...

I'm from Russia but I tried it in both countries. Maybe there is a difference but I can't really tell.

Funnily I would have said the same thing, replacing vinegar by sugar.

Both vinegar and sugar are in the top three ingredients.

> Simply Heinz™ is made from the basics: red ripe tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, salt, and a special blend of spices and flavorings.

Sauce: https://www.heinz.com/product/00013000004640/heinz-simply-to...

In my country Heinz is sold as "tomato sauce", not ketchup, because it does not have enough tomato to meet the definition of ketchup.

What is the definition of ketchup? If you asked me, I'd define it as a mixture of tomato product, sugar, and vinegar.

That's a good question, and I don't know the answer. Presumably it's defined in some law somewhere. Why there exists such a law is a good question in itself.

> Why there exists such a law is a good question in itself.

They generally exist to avoid companies misrepresenting their products and misleading consumers.

This is the US regulation that defines "Catsup, ketchup, or catchup":

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfr...

The USDA also has a grading system: https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/tomato-catsup-grad...

This is why the bottle always says "fancy ketchup." This is the ketchup equivalent of USDA Prime beef.

TIL.

In Russia "tomato sauce" is basically anything that has tomatos. But at the same time we have mostly sauses from Georgian, Turkish, Armenian etc causine. They have all kinds of spices (and often vegetables).

Ketchup is usually something far poorer in ingredients.

Where I'm from it's the opposite. Althought ketchup is a type of tomato sauce, tomato sauce usually refers to something with higher tomato content and more tomato taste where as ketchup is more vinegery and sweet.

> I still can't unserstand why would anyone prefer Heinz to anything else. It has almost no flavor except vinegar...

Came here to say just this. I have a pretty undiscriminating and liberal palate and don’t really have that many dislikes when it comes to food. But Heinz ketchup is just bad. No flavor and just boring.

I used to think I didn't like ketchup...

Then I had some "tomato jam" in a higher end restaurant and it was amazing and I realized it was just a nice house made ketchup. Since then I've also tried Red Gold ketchup and that's pretty darn good as well.

I would love vinegar-heavy ketchup! I love mustards for just that reason. But to me, ketchups just taste like sugar paste.

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