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Tomato ketchup is a staple condiment that is paired with almost every snack and other food items in the world. NO wonder you will find it in almost every pantry in the world! From your crispy pakodas, xheela and sumptuous dhokla to fast foods like burgers, French fries, sandwiches, pizzas and pastas, let’s just agree that these dishes are hard to imagine without the humble tomato ketchup. Isn’t it true? Despite the fact that tomato ketchup is so popular, a lot many of us tend to call it a 'sauce', but the fact is that ketchup and sauce are quite different. Confused? Well, every ketchup is a sauce but not all sauces can be called ketchup. Interesting, isn't it?! To make it simpler, ketchup is made with a host of spices while the sauce is generally made without spices, and is thinner in consistency. Another major difference between tomato sauce and ketchup is, sauce generally does not contain sugar while ketchup has a good amount of sugar and other sweet spices.
But have you ever wondered how the tomatoes turn into ketchup that is sold to us in glass bottles and plastic packets? Well, a viral video on the internet shows how tomato ketchup is prepared commercially, and we are all intrigued!
The video shared by food blogger @foodie_incarnate has more than 760k views and over 40k likes. Take a look:
The short video shows the entire process of making tomato ketchup step by step, and starts with weighing the tomato puree. The puree is poured into a huge barrel for machine mixing post which drinking water is added into the barrel. For 170 kilograms of tomato puree, they use about 60 litres of water. Once it starts mixing, steam is released into the barrel. This helps in bringing the ketchup together.
The spices are added next starting from coriander powder, red chilli powder, onion paste to garlic paste and sodium benzoate, all are placed in a bowl and dissolved in water to make a masala mixture. For the unversed, Sodium benzoate is a preservative that is added to sodas, packaged foods etc. to prolong the shelf life. The prepared masala mixture is poured into the steaming hot barrel into the puree. Since ketchup does contain sugar, about 70 kilograms of sugar and 6 kilograms of salt are mixed with the puree. And voila! The ketchup is ready to be packed. The mixture is bottled through the machine, ready to be dispatched for consumption. Take a look at the full YouTube video here:
What do you think about tomato puree made just from tomatoes without any additives? Let us know.
