Heinz - How to Pour Ketchup Correctly

[Toliver]

"Finally, Heinz is teaching us how to pour ketchup correctly"

Quote

...Heinz has released a new bottle that attempts to teach us, the unwashed and ketchup flow illiterate, how to finally pour correctly.
It took them long enough.
The Pour-Perfect bottle features a label that's on all catawampus, but the magic happens when you tilt the bottle so the label is straight.

Here's the video from the article:

 

[heidih]

Oh yes the perfect world. Ya hit the back of the bottle and wait for a plop. Occasionally you wear it. Real life  (oh  and squeeze bottle is for wimps)

[Kim Shook]

This actually reminds me of something that I hate.  The new "upside down" bottle that Heinz is now using.  Does anyone else have trouble with this?  It is so hard for me to squeeze that I inevitably OVER squeeze and squirt ketchup all over the place.  Just me???

[Darienne]

Thank you @Toliver.  We both loved it.

[Smithy]

Excellent video! Thanks, Toliver!

 

@Kim Shook, I assume you're talking about the large bottles with the lid on the 'bottom' (or the label upside down, by a different view)? I haven't tried the ketchup version but I've tried the oversized bright-yellow mustard version. My problem has always been that when it comes out of the fridge cold, then warms to room temperature, the air pressure inside builds. Boom! Once that lid is opened, it pops out uncontrollably. We have to remember to leave the bottle sitting with the lid at the top, i.e. the label upside down, until time to squeeze.

[fondue]

  This reminds me of a rhyme my grandmother said was popular in Depression-era USA: "Shake and shake the ketchup bottle; first none will come and then a lot'll."

[Alex]

On 9/6/2019 at 7:19 PM, Kim Shook said:

This actually reminds me of something that I hate.  The new "upside down" bottle that Heinz is now using.  Does anyone else have trouble with this?  It is so hard for me to squeeze that I inevitably OVER squeeze and squirt ketchup all over the place.  Just me???

 

I like that bottle. Three easy steps: 1) briefly shake vigorously if it's been sitting for more than a day or two (the bottle, not you); 2) shake or tap gently with the lid side down, to eliminate any air between the ketchup and the spout; 3) open and squeeze gently.

[Kim Shook]

I find it impossible to squeeze it gently. 😄

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Some years back I read somewhere on the net on how to make mustard and catsup bottles table-friendly.    You hold the bottle in your hand at your side, then make like a propeller, swinging it up over your head and back down, up over your head and back down.    Repeat a half dozen times.    The contents will be distributed throughout the bottle and will come out without effort.     Just make sure the caps are tight before you start....

[dcarch]

I believe they have omitted some information here.

 

A few years back I read that a university (Harvard?) science research team had come up with a new chemical treatment to plastic that make the surface kind of non stick, allowing the ketchup to pour easier.

 

dcarch

 

 

[Toliver]

2 hours ago, dcarch said:

I believe they have omitted some information here.

 

A few years back I read that a university (Harvard?) science research team had come up with a new chemical treatment to plastic that make the surface kind of non stick, allowing the ketchup to pour easier.

 

dcarch

I recall that, as well. Perhaps the technology isn't affordable, yet.

[lemniscate]

Anticipation.

[pastrygirl]

I solve this problem by simply not using the stuff ... but isn’t it odd that it’s been packed in barely functional glass bottles for so long?  Why frustrate your customer, why not use a wide-mouth jar that can fit a spoon?   Someone put it in a bottle and just expected everyone to struggle with it instead of finding a better vessel. 

Edited September 11, 2019 by pastrygirl (log)

[MelissaH]

13 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

I solve this problem by simply not using the stuff ... but isn’t it odd that it’s been packed in barely functional glass bottles for so long?  Why frustrate your customer, why not use a wide-mouth jar that can fit a spoon?   Someone put it in a bottle and just expected everyone to struggle with it instead of finding a better vessel. 

 

A wide-mouth bottle would be fine for home use, but a nightmare for restaurants, where people could eat off their spoon and then stick it into the ketchup bottle. Easier for them to have consistent packaging.

 

I myself like the squeeze bottles.

[IowaDee]

Put me down as a fan of squeezing too.  Remember a several years back when Heinz came out with those weird colors of ketchup?  It was a guess as to what color was in the bottles.  I bought a half dozen and sold them on eBay.  That was in the days before anything and everything was on Amazon!

[Toliver]

I think there are a couple of different kinds of squeeze bottles. One has a small screen in the hole that is supposed to prevent any water that separates out from the ketchup to not go through. It is supposedly mixed back in as the ketchup is forced through. That may be causing the issue @Kim Shook has with squeeze bottles.

The triple-set of bottles I buy at Costco don't have the screen in them...it's just a clear hole.

[pastrygirl]

3 hours ago, Toliver said:

One has a small screen in the hole that is supposed to prevent any water that separates out from the ketchup to not go through.

 

See?  So high maintenance 🙄

[heidih]

I have not purchased ketchup since the boys were out of the house  BUT I was always fond of the classic glass bottle. Perhaps it is a combo of nostalgia and hand-feel. My favorite vintage diner uses the old glass ones. I like it so much that I hoard the "minis" when room service puts them on the tray. 

[dcarch]

This is what I was talking about. But it was MIT, not Harvard.

 

dcarch

 

 

 

[andiesenji]

I'm bumping this up to make a comment about a ketchup that is new to me but which has really impressed me.  Remember the thickness, the texture and the FLAVOR of ketchup 30 years ago? 

I do and when it became "blah" I resorted to making my own that had just a tiny hint of spiciness that caught the back of the throat when a French Fry was dipped into it and transferred quickly to the mouth and it DID NOT DRIP!

 

I shopped at Aldi for a couple of things - accompanied a neighbor who was kind enough to transport me to Urgent Care and on the way home she needed to pick up milk and butter.  I wandered down the aisle where the condiments live and came across Burman's Ketchup.

 

Wow, this tastes like the ketchup of old. Very complex flavor profile.  Generous size bottle.

[Toliver]

"Heinz Is Introducing Two New Mashup Condiments Called Sweet Ketchili And Buffaranch"

Quote

The Sweet Ketchili is a blend of ketchup with the spicy Thai flavor of sweet chili sauce. It’s an ideal dipping choice for French fries, tots, or onion rings...
As for the Buffaranch condiment mashup, it’s exactly what you’d expect. It fuses spicy Buffalo sauce with the cool, creaminess of ranch dressing.

Something for those who can't figure out how to mix two condiments together in their kitchens.   

[FauxPas]

I saw a little write-up on ketchup bottles in a daily email from The Atlantic and I really agree with their conclusion! I think those generic red tabletop bottles are way better than their commercial designs! What do you folks think? 

 

Ketchup bottles. If you’re old enough to remember glass Heinz ketchup bottles, you might also recall how frustrating they were to use. You’d strike the bottom until, eventually, a huge blob would splurt out, ruining your plate.

Heinz’s current bottle is squeezable and it relocates the dispenser to the bottom, but its valve is so tight that a heap of ketchup still comes out with each squeeze.

I compared the Heinz squeezable bottle with the cylindrical, fine-tipped sort that adorn many a diner and picnic table. I could get that generic bottle to output 30 times less condiment per squeeze, and in a fine line instead of a wide dollop. Today’s bottle might be good for a fry-dipping excursion, but it releases too much ketchup to dress a burger or hot dog.

The earlier, cheaper packaging technology seems superior. So why would Heinz deploy a worse—or at least less flexible—design?

Daniel Johnson, the chair of packaging science at Rochester Institute of Technology, assured me that big companies such as Kraft Heinz put lots of R&D behind their packaging. The ketchup bottle would have been subject to focus-group studies of usage preferences, bottle-holding habits, and more. A Heinz spokesperson told me, “We’ve found that our consumers prefer a dollop to top a burger or for dipping.”

That would explain why the bottle works the way it does, but it can’t stop me from lamenting such a one-note use of our nation’s favorite condiment. Invest in a cheap, picnic-type bottle and dispense from the brand-name bottle into it for a more versatile squeeze.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night's dinner was a Kenji smashburger.  My preferred burger condiment is ketchup.  I can no longer find Heinz organic ketchup, though I've found Shoprite organic ketchup is as good, to my taste, as Heinz but comes in the same dysfunctional plastic squeeze container.

 

There is a special circle of hell for whomever designed the paper towel dispensers that we have at work.  Below that are the ketchup bottle engineers.

 

[btbyrd]

+1 for the generic squeeze bottle (like the generic red tabletop bottle) as the superior ketchup dispensing option. The upside down ones are fine for dispensing big blobs of dippable ketchup, but if you need to lay down a controlled amount on a bun, the classic squeeze bottle is unparalleled. 

[Kim Shook]

17 hours ago, FauxPas said:

I saw a little write-up on ketchup bottles in a daily email from The Atlantic and I really agree with their conclusion! I think those generic red tabletop bottles are way better than their commercial designs! What do you folks think? 

 

Ketchup bottles. If you’re old enough to remember glass Heinz ketchup bottles, you might also recall how frustrating they were to use. You’d strike the bottom until, eventually, a huge blob would splurt out, ruining your plate.

Heinz’s current bottle is squeezable and it relocates the dispenser to the bottom, but its valve is so tight that a heap of ketchup still comes out with each squeeze.

I compared the Heinz squeezable bottle with the cylindrical, fine-tipped sort that adorn many a diner and picnic table. I could get that generic bottle to output 30 times less condiment per squeeze, and in a fine line instead of a wide dollop. Today’s bottle might be good for a fry-dipping excursion, but it releases too much ketchup to dress a burger or hot dog.

The earlier, cheaper packaging technology seems superior. So why would Heinz deploy a worse—or at least less flexible—design?

Daniel Johnson, the chair of packaging science at Rochester Institute of Technology, assured me that big companies such as Kraft Heinz put lots of R&D behind their packaging. The ketchup bottle would have been subject to focus-group studies of usage preferences, bottle-holding habits, and more. A Heinz spokesperson told me, “We’ve found that our consumers prefer a dollop to top a burger or for dipping.”

That would explain why the bottle works the way it does, but it can’t stop me from lamenting such a one-note use of our nation’s favorite condiment. Invest in a cheap, picnic-type bottle and dispense from the brand-name bottle into it for a more versatile squeeze.

Exactly!