The full story
A bottle of 78 Original starts with whole tomatoes, not a powdered concentrate diluted with water. From there, every step is built around keeping the tomato in the foreground and the additive list short.
Issue 78 · 01
The four steps
- Tomatoes in. Whole, ripe, non-GMO tomatoes are crushed and held at low heat to preserve color and lycopene.
- Cook down. A long, slow reduction concentrates flavor naturally. No vacuum-paste shortcut.
- Season. Real sugar (never HFCS), cider vinegar, salt, and a spice blend that is mixed in-house.
- Bottle. Filtered, filled hot, sealed. Every batch sampled before it leaves.
Issue 78 · 02
What we leave out
No high fructose corn syrup, no modified food starch, no caramel color, no preservatives beyond the natural acidity of tomato and vinegar. The label is short because nothing was added that the recipe did not need.
Issue 78 · 03
Why it tastes different
78 percent real tomato content is unusually high for a US ketchup. It is the reason 78 pours thicker, holds on the fry, and reads brighter on the palate. Side by side against a standard bottle, the difference is in the first taste.
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