Lost in the sauce: does ketchup go in the fridge or on the shelf?
Should the ketchup bottle go in the fridge or not? As Americans prepare for Fourth of July gatherings, many will stock up on barbecue essentials. But after the picnic is over and the ketchup bottle has been open, where should it be stored? Does it go on the cupboard shelf alongside maple syrup, honey, or soy sauce? Or should it be kept cold at all costs, like processed eggs, mayonnaise, and salad dressing?
The perennial discourse is so contentious and ubiquitous that Kraft Heinz has weighed in on how ketchup should be stored – more than once. Last week, the UK branch tweeted: “FYI: Ketchup.
goes. in. the. Fridge!!!.”
In an accompanying Twitter poll, over 62% of respondents said they kept the condiment in their fridges, while 36.8% copped to keeping it in the cupboard.
But in 2017, the brand was more circumspect, telling the Today show, “Because of its natural acidity, Heinz Ketchup is shelf-stable. However, its stability after opening can be affected by storage conditions. We recommend that this product, like any processed food, be refrigerated after opening. Refrigeration will maintain the best product quality after opening.”
Hunt’s, on the other hand, told HuffPost the same year that the storage question was “truly a matter of choice”, while Muir Glen also encouraged refrigeration.
So, which is it? Though many in the comments on the recent tweet said they felt refrigerating ketchup keeps it fresh, others were queasy at the thought of the cold condiment hitting their warm food.
“Cold ketchup? Ewww no,” one user wrote. Another said that they placed their bottle “on the counter ready to be used at any moment”.
Food safety experts say that while ketchup is shelf-stable, it generally tastes better when kept cold. “I’m shocked there’s a controversy,” said Martin Bucknavage, a food safety specialist at Penn State University. “If you want to maximize the quality of your ketchup, you keep it in the fridge.”
Bucknavage said that while some restaurants leave room-temperature ketchup out on tables for guests to use, those bottles should go into the refrigerator at the end of the day. He also added that restaurants go through ketchup bottles quicker than most house