Turn a ketchup bottle over. Read the first ingredient. On a good ketchup, it says tomatoes. That is the whole story, and most of it happens before the bottle is ever filled.
Ketchup is a simple idea, done well or done cheaply. The difference is how much tomato is really in there. Not the picture on the front. The tomato you can taste.
This is a short guide to what ketchup is actually made of. Tomato paste. Brix. Real sugar. Learn those three and you can read any bottle in about ten seconds.
It starts as a tomato
Every ketchup starts in a field. A ripe processing tomato is mostly water. Only about 5 percent of it is solid. That small fraction holds the flavor, the color, and the body. The rest is water that has to go somewhere.
So the tomatoes get cooked and concentrated. The water leaves. What stays behind is tomato paste. More tomato, less water. That is the base every ketchup is built on.
What tomato paste actually is
Tomato paste is tomatoes with most of the water removed. Fresh juice starts near 5 percent solids. Good paste is concentrated to somewhere between 28 and 36 on the Brix scale. More on Brix in a moment.
How the tomatoes are cooked matters too. Heat them fast and hot right after chopping, and the paste sets up thick and rich. The industry calls this a hot break, and it is the method used for ketchup. The body comes from the fruit, not from anything added later.
Paste is where a ketchup's tomato flavor lives. More paste means more tomato. More tomato means more of the thing you came for.
Brix: the number that tells the truth
Here is the one number worth knowing. Brix.
Brix measures how much solid is dissolved in the tomato. The natural sugars from the fruit. The acids. The real stuff. One degree of Brix is one gram of dissolved solids in a hundred grams. The higher the Brix, the more concentrated the tomato.
A higher Brix tomato tastes like more tomato. It brings its own sweetness. It brings its own body. This is not a marketing number. It is measured in a lab with a refractometer, the same way the whole tomato industry measures it.
Most ketchup runs on the low end. A better ketchup starts with a higher Brix paste, because that is where the flavor is.
Real sugar, and what it is for
A tomato is tart. Ketchup needs a little sweetness to round that off. That is what the sugar is for. Balance.
Real sugar is sucrose. It is the same sweetener people have cooked with for centuries. A small amount, added on purpose, to meet the acidity of the tomato and the vinegar.
That is the job. Sweetness that serves the tomato, not sweetness that stands in for it. When the tomato is good and the Brix is high, you do not need much.
A quick word on high fructose corn syrup
You have probably seen high fructose corn syrup on ingredient lists. It is a liquid sweetener made from corn starch. It became common in American food in the 1970s because it was inexpensive and easy to blend.
That is the plain explanation. It is a sweetener. Some ketchups use it, some use real sugar. Now you know what the words mean when you read them, and you can choose for yourself.
We use real sugar. We think it tastes cleaner next to a high tomato base. That is the whole reason.
How to read a ketchup label
Three moves, at the shelf, in about ten seconds.
- Read the first ingredient. Tomatoes should be first.
- Find the sweetener, and decide what you want.
- Ask how much tomato is really in there. More tomato is more ketchup.
The 78 approach
We build ours at 78 percent tomatoes. The name is the number.
We start with a high tomato base. We add real sugar to balance it. Then we let the fruit do the rest. More tomato in the bottle. More ketchup in your ketchup.
The bottom line
Good ketchup is not complicated. It is tomatoes, concentrated well, balanced with a little real sugar. Everything worth knowing is on the back of the bottle.
Read the first ingredient. Ask how much tomato. That is the whole test.
Frequently asked questions
- What is tomato paste?
- Tomato paste is tomatoes with most of the water removed, concentrated into a richer base. It is what ketchup is built from.
- What does Brix mean on tomatoes?
- Brix measures the dissolved solids in a tomato, mostly the fruit's natural sugars and acids. A higher Brix means a more concentrated, more flavorful tomato.
- Why does 78 Brand use real sugar?
- To balance the natural tartness of the tomato. Real sugar is sucrose, added in a small amount so the tomato stays the star.
- Does more tomato make better ketchup?
- More tomato gives you more flavor and more natural body, which is why tomato content is the first thing worth checking on a label.
Sources
- 1.Mettler-Toledo, Sugar Content Determination of Tomato Products (Brix by refractometry). View source
- 2.USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Tomato Ketchup Grades and Standards. View source
- 3.OneSource Food Solutions, How Tomato Solids Shape Flavor and Body in Bulk Paste. View source