What'll they think of next?

[Beth]

Have you read that green, yes GREEN Ketchup soon will be hitting the shelves. Their marketing gurus didn't talk to my kids -- they both said "no way!" Thank goodness. I couldn't stand to think about the amount of dye and/or other chemicals it must take to make a ketchup turn green. At any rate, I thought of all those posts declaring their aversion to dyed green food...take the pepto before you shop!

This one tops Pokemon Poptarts in my "What else will they put in my grocery store in place of items I could really use?" column.

[Laura B]

GROSS!! It may be fun to serve at a St. Patrick's Day party but cannot imagine ever buying it for regular use. Or is it supposed to have been made with green tomatoes? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Natasha]

Let s ask CathieA for her opinion on this. Oops, you already thought of that.
Pokemon Pop Tarts? Now that I have yet to see. What gets me is the in-store bakery near me that has RAINBOW BREAD - i.e., plain white bread with food coloring swirls.

Q.: Does anyone know if it is green green (bright green) or green like green Tabasco sauce? (No, I m NOT trying to decide how many bottles to buy - just wondering.)


[This message has been edited by Natasha (edited 07-10-2000).]

[Ralph]

I'm not trying to defend Heinz (after all, I'm not that big a ketchup fan anyways!), but here's what I heard.
The majority of ketchup is eaten by kids. And after surveying these kids, the biggest request was for ketchup of a different color! Though I don't think they specified a color.
I just shutter to think about some of the mixes, old & new ketchup, new ketchup & mustard.
This inventor/creator will likely go down in history with the creators of "New Coke" & Clear Pepsi!

[Susann]

At first when I heard about this green ketchup thing, my response was "wow-they must be making a tomatillo ketchup, how exciting!" Food coloring...tomatillos...maybe Heinz can come out with a new product!!!

[Cathy]

I thought the same thing! Wouldn't a tomatillo ketchup be great on burgers. The thought of 'Green' regular tomato ketchup sounds discusting. If they put green food coloring into the red ketchup, won't it come out brown? Or at least a very unappetizing color? [ Originally posted by Susann:
At first when I heard about this green ketchup thing, my response was "wow-they must be making a tomatillo ketchup, how exciting!" Food coloring...tomatillos...maybe Heinz can come out with a new product!!!

[Mamasue]

Well, I hate to disappoint you ladies...the green ketchup is not made with tomatillos. I was watching the morning news yesterday and couldn't believe this green ketchup. It is a bright green (on my tv anyway) and looks gross! They did say that it was made especially for kids to break up the boardom. It is made with RED tomatoes. Don't ask me how they got it green....probably a lot of coloring I would say. What will they think of next!

[lorilei]

As if ketchup isn't useless enough already in the nutrient department http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

Then they go and add chemical dyes to it to make it green! Our poor children.

[Beth]

I agree with those who were hoping this was a new product (green tomatoes, tomatillos, anything naturally green, with the possible exception of cilantro for our friends).

The co admits it takes some dye to make the green (which the newspaper article described as deep green, but looked bright green on the AOL picture yesterday). The article says they tested blue, but focus groups of kids favored green. Bad enough to put all that dye in our kids' food, but can you imagine the satined faces, the laundry, the tile grout, etc.? I learned my lesson when my oldest was 3 or 4 (and so did he). I bought some rainbow ice cream for a birthday party. It was all these bright, swirled colors and the kids all had to try it. Non of them liked eating it though. All that dye tasted awful. We threw it all down the drain.

I agree with the new coke, clear pepsi comparison. I'm sure it was the same when I was a kid, but I am amazed at how much money is poured into trying to sell anything and everything to kids, especially where it's a case of fixin' what aint' broke.

LauraB, I agree it might be a novelty at Christmas and St. Patricks day, but I wonder if it will last that long?

[This message has been edited by Beth (edited 07-11-2000).]

[karen w]

I too was unpleasantly surprised to hear about green ketchup. I've lost some respect for Heinz with this move. But there only trying to stay ahead of the Joneses. The ketchup market has been declining and kids consume most of the stuff. Kids wanted green, so...you get the picture.Anyway, I think I'll stick to the red stuff. About those colored ice creams-rainbow cream, cotton candy etc...all they are is vanilla with food coloring. I have not let my kids attack the stuff yet(4 ,3, & 11 mo.)My 3 year old is too much of a slob! But from what I understand from other mothers it comes out the same way it goes in. Yuck!Anyway at least we know something else will be taking the place of pokemon poptarts in a few weeks, months etc..., but green ketchup may be here to stay. I guess that's progress!??

[cookgirl]

For the THIRD time I will try to post!

Mom's Call Heinz. Get the artificial culprits, check the FDA, and you'll probably find that the Green (horribly Ugly) ketchup is less harmful than many other fruit-roll up, ice cream, juice and other kid-oriented products than you think.

Good thought: Remember "I do not like Green Eggs and Ham. I do not like them Sam I AM?" That book, and a little drop of food coloring here and there, helped me get a two year old out of a starvation phase. After the hundreth "I don't want it" at breakfast time, I melted a little margerine and added a drop of green food coloring. Then I took his toast, drew a design and returned it to him. He ATE for the first time willingly in about two weeks! And he enjoyed the DR. Seuss book while eating!

So I say...Hooray for green Condiments!!!!

[cookboy]

"its not easy, being Green." Or is it? You know, this green ketchup thing may just be a marketing fad designed to generate publicity and boost sales, but MAYBE, kids will love it. Maybe, there will be a green ketchup fad that will sweep the nation.
We already have guacamole, and those of us sushi lovers have wasabi, so the color won't be so bad. If there are no side effects to consuming the greener variety of the Old Boy we know as ketchup, why not give it a try? Who knows, it might be the next best thing since sliced bread? Anyways, I hear that the Heinz folks are juicing this one up with Vitamin C. . .

[MrsReber]

yuck. Glad I don't have kids yet. I would hate to see that color on my hamburgers. It's all marketing. Probably costs more, too. I need to learn to make my own ketchup from my own home grown tomatoes!

[LauraEllen]

I remember under the Reagan administration when ketchup was determined to be a qualified vegetable under the school lunch program. Now I guess it qualifies as a green veggie, right?

[Mary Ann]

LOL, LauraEllen!

[SandyDee]

I know I too saw it on the news yesterday!!! Ugh!!!! It looked like green slime on your burger. It was bright grass green!! Looked to me like lettuce that has gone bad and was mushed further into liquid jelly type texture and the kids were loving it!!! It was repulsive. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif

[Beth]

I'm sure young kids can be attracted by bright colors period, and older kids go for shock values, and Heinz is playing up to them. Yes, it will have Vitamin C (I suspect it has to do with getting or retaining the color or getting the acidity back up after adding all that dye), but they will also be charging more for it (about 20 cents a bottle per the newpaper article).

I don't have any problem with adding color to entice a picky eater to try something new or for special occassions, whether its a decorated cake, cookie dough or the dreaded rainbow ice cream, but my problem is, like the red velvet cake, taking a food that has a pleasing color and adding massive amounts of dye to change it. I'm especially turned off by the idea when it's done merely for marketing purposes (I haven't heard of many kids who wouldn't eat ketchup because it was red, or parents who would complain if they did) and with a food that many children eat on a daily basis. I guess I would be less bothered if it was something that didn't target young children.

Oaky, after talking with my DH and 2 kids after posting this, to be fair, I should say that the household concesus was that we might buy ONE SMALL bottle for novelty's sake (to make wreaths on Christmas hamburgers was my son's suggestion). We might even do a blind tasting to see if anyone could tell the difference, but I expect green ketchup to be short-lived. For those of you who haven't sealed you millenium time capsules......(put it in a ziploc bag!)

[This message has been edited by Beth (edited 07-11-2000).]

[Anne]

The only positive side to this issue that I can think of is that they didn't make it blue

[Beth]

Originally posted by Anne:
The only positive side to this issue that I can think of is that they didn't make it blue

Blue was apparently the other color tested with the kids. If green goes over, maybe they'd sell both. With mustard, the kids could paint anything on their plates.

[Natasha]

Maybe by next year the mustard will be blue...and by the following year the relish will be red, so we'll have come full circle, so to speak. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif

[This message has been edited by Natasha (edited 07-12-2000).]

[Beth]

Originally posted by Natasha:
Maybe by next year the mustard will be blue...and by the following year the relish will be red, so we'll have come full circle, so to speak. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif

[This message has been edited by Natasha (edited 07-12-2000).]

LOL! How about purple pickles and pink mayo?

[CATHIEA]

I think I'll stick to my artifically colored green food aversion and avoid green ketchup. By the way, Rainbow Bread? There's another food product you will NEVER see in my shopping cart!
CathieA, Sam I-AM-Not