Heinz offers foodies a fancier ketchup spiked with balsamic vinegar
Heinz is taking ketchup upscale, launching a new version of the classic condiment blended with balsamic vinegar.
The company's biggest fans get first dibs on dipping their French fries, though: The limited edition bottles will be available only via Heinz's Facebook page starting on November 14. The balsamic ketchup should be available in select Walmart and Safeway stores by the end of December.
"This is the first time we've offered a product for sale via Facebook in the U.S.," Jessica Jackson, group leader of public relations and communications for Heinz North America, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The company's Facebook page has more than 830,000 fans.
The new version made its debut in the United Kingdom back in March, also through Facebook, where critics declared it to be "a roaring success." Heinz decided to put the eight-sided, black-and-silver labelled glass bottles on supermarket shelves there, and started wondering if the product would work well in the United States as well.
Former "Top Chef" contestant Spike Mendelsohn, who is also a past winner of the Heinz Best Dressed Burger Award, put the ketchup through its paces during a New York City lunch hosted by Heinz recently. He incorporated the ketchup into recipes for seared tuna, lamb chops, and even dessert dishes, showing that it can be much more than just a hot dog topping.
"I took everyday uses of tomato products or classic pairings, such as the thousand island dressings, and try to improve on them and make them more creative," he told Business Insider. "I also looked at the product as a base. It had a lot of tang in it. When using sauces you're always trying to find ways to marinate things."
But what we really want to know is: How does it taste?
"The taste is unmistakably tomato ketchup," writes Harry Wallop, consumer affairs editor for the British newspaper The Telegraph. "It has the same immediate hit of vinegary tartness, followed by a teeth-stripping sweetness. But whereas ordinary ketchup has little, or no, 'finish,' as wine tasters would say, the balsamic version has a depth to it. The flavor is darker and richer, with a definite hint of tamarind, one of the key ingredients in Worcestershire Sauce. It is genuinely sophisticated, without taking away from its basic ketchupness."
Ninety-seven percent of U.S. households have ketchup in their kitchens, according to the market research firm Mintel. Noel Geoffroy, the vice president for United States retail brands for Heinz, told The New York Times that the new offering is unique enough to appeal to all those ketchup lovers. "We think households who already use Heinz ketchup will use this in addition," she said.
From a flavor standpoint, pairing tomato ketchup with balsamic vinegar makes perfect sense. Both are high in umami, that savory taste that's the hallmark of certain natural amino acids in some types of food. And, of course, the combination is a classic in Italian cuisine and summer tomato salads.
The new ketchup will cost $2.49 per 14-ounce bottle (plus $2 shipping if you buy it on Facebook). If it turns out that your taste buds like the balsamic vinegar-laced ketchup, make sure to stock up once it's available in stores; the limited-edition product will be pulled in March 2012, to give Heinz a chance to crunch the numbers and see if it's worth keeping on the shelves.
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