Washington Post

Behold, the power of the sesame! Long rumored to possess magical powers, sesame seeds were buried with Egyptian royalty in ancient times. Fast-forward a few thousand years: Today, sesame products are said to possess antioxidant powers.

Somewhat confounding, though, is the fact that two types of sesame oil are available: roasted and unroasted.

Although both oils possess a slightly sweet, nutty flavor and aroma, they are far from interchangeable. Roasted sesame oil is made from toasted or roasted sesame seeds. As such, it possesses a very concentrated, intense flavor, a dark-brown appearance and a very fragrant aroma. It should be reserved as an accent flavoring for Asian dishes.

It doesn’t take much roasted sesame oil to do the trick. Stir up to 12 a teaspoon of the smoky-flavored oil into marinades, salad dressings or dipping sauces. Or sprinkle a few drops into a simple soup of beef or vegetable broth to which you’ve added a handful of vegetables and leftover turkey or shrimp.

Stir-frying with roasted sesame oil is a no-no. Not only is it too intensely flavored for frying, it also has a very low smoke point (read: it burns very easily). If you wish to infuse a stir-fry with sesame flavor, mix six parts canola or peanut oil to four parts roasted sesame oil, stir and fry to your heart’s content.

Or try unroasted sesame oil. It is produced in a fashion similar to that of extra-virgin olive oil: Top-grade unroasted sesame seeds are cold-pressed and the first run-off is collected. The result is a slightly nutty, somewhat sweet oil that is lighter in color and flavor than roasted sesame oil. It can be substituted for virtually any cooking oil.

Store sesame oil in a cool, dark, dry place for up to several months. A wide variety of sesame oils are available at supermarkets, Asian markets and health-food stores.

A look at some of the lore, rules and records of the International Federation of Competitive Eating:

THE INSIGNIA: Two griffins (a mythical monster with the body and legs of a lion and the head, wings and claws of an eagle) standing face to face, clutching crossed mustard and ketchup bottles — a hot dog extended between their mouths.

THE MOTTO: Everything in Moderation — with everything crossed out and replaced with nothing.

THE RULES:
_Competitors may eat in any style, with or without condiments and with or without beverage. In hot dogs, Tokyo style, in which the dog and bun are separated — is recognized.

_Food already in a competitors mouth at the final whistle counts toward the tally if the competitor chews and swallows that portion of the competitive foodstuff.

_Competitors are disqualified if they dispose of the foodstuff in any other way than to eat it fully. Roman method eating during the contest — in which the fare comes back up the way it went down — results in immediate disqualification.

THE RECORDS:
_Asparagus: 5.75 pounds of tempura deep-fried spears in 10 minutes.

_Beef Tongue: 3 pounds, 3 ounces in 12 minutes.

_Bologna: 2.41 pounds in six minutes.

_Buffet: 5 1/2 pounds in 12 minutes.

_Matzo Balls: 21 baseball-sized in five minutes, 25 seconds.

_Mayonnaise: Four, 32-ounce bowls in eight minutes.

_Pancakes: 3 1/2 pounds of pancakes and bacon in 12 minutes.

_Pickles: 2.7 pounds of kosher dills in six minutes.

_Pork Ribs: 4.65 pounds in 12 minutes.

_Spam: 6 pounds of Spam from the can in 12 minutes.

We could not find any press releases on the new condiments, so we are writing our own. So far, there are over 45 new condiments with various statements listed in the table below.

Statement on Taco Bell Condiment	Fire	Hot	Mild
The Road to Mediocricy is littered with Empty Ketchup packets	X	X	X
Use your Stomach Nacho Mind	X	X	X
So many Chalupas So Little Time	--	X	X
Polly want a Taco?	X	X	X
The Official Sauce of Taco Bell	X	X	X
Save a Bun Eat a Taco	X	X	X
Single Fire Sauce Seeking Friendship Maybe More	X	N/A	N/A
Single Hot Sauce Seeking Friendship Maybe More	N/A	X	N/A
Single Mild Sauce Seeking Friendship Maybe More	N/A	N/A	X
Live Life One Sauce Packet at a time	X	X	X
Mild Sauce the New Ketchup	N/A	N/A	X
Hot Sauce the New Ketchup	N/A	X	N/A
Fire Sauce the New Ketchup	X	N/A	N/A
How Many of these do you already Have in your Glove Compartment	X	X	X
Warning Youre about to Make a Taco Very Happy	X	X	X
Be Gentle	X	X	X
My Other Taco is a Chalupa	X	X	X
Find Inner Peace in Every Piece of Our Marinated Chicken	X	X	X
Why Order a Taco when you can Ask Politely	X	X	X

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings: cranberry sauce, stuffing and turkey gravy flavored soda. Yummy?

In the latest food fad to emerge in the United States, Seattle specialty soda maker Jones Soda Co. scored a hit this week with the introduction of a limited batch of Turkey Gravy-flavored soda.

The tan-colored soda sold out in just three hours after an initial batch was put up for sale on its Web site on Friday, a spokeswoman for the company said.

Proceeds from the online sale, where two bottles of Turkey Gravy soda sold for about $11, were donated to Toys for Tots, a childrens charity. Local retailers will start selling the soda from Monday.

Jones Soda said it would be up to local stores to set prices for Turkey Gravy soda. Other sodas from the company typically cost $1 to $1.50.

Thanksgiving, a U.S. holiday that falls on the fourth Thursday of November, typically features a dinner with turkey, gravy and other condiments.

Turkey Gravy soda tastes like a Thanksgiving dinner, but contains no meat extracts, Jones Soda said.

This isnt the companys first experiment in exotic carbonation. Fish tacos and ham flavors have also been offered as promotional soda flavors. Jones Soda said it will continue to introduce other unusual soda flavors.

Other flavors offered by Jones Soda include green apple, bubblegum and crushed melon.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A 2-year-old left alone in an apartment for nearly three weeks after her mother was jailed survived by eating mustard, ketchup and raw pasta, police said Monday.

The toddler was watching cartoons when found by her father, police said. The youngster was suffering from malnutrition and was being treated at Wolfson Childrens Hospital, police said.

The mother, jailed Sept. 10 in a separate case, was charged Monday with child abuse because she didnt let anyone know that her daughter was left alone in her apartment, police said.

Ogden Lee, who is separated from the girls mother, said he had been trying to contact the two for weeks.

When a manager let him into the apartment, the youngster was lying in a babys bathtub with a towel pulled over her and was watching a TV cartoon channel, he said. She was filthy and covered with dried ketchup, Lee said.

She grabbed me and wouldnt let go of me, Lee told The Florida Times-Union. It is really a miracle how good a shape my daughter is in. I dont know how she did it.

Lee, 33, said the girl had dragged the food, toys and other things into her mothers bedroom, where he found her.

Dakeysha Telita Lee, 22, was first arrested Sept. 10 on charges of aggravated assault and petit theft. Her jailers said late Monday they had no information on her legal representation.

Ogden Lee said he did not know until Sunday that his estranged wife had been arrested. He said he talked to her by telephone at the jail Sunday and was told his daughter was with neighbors, but not which neighbor.

Lee said he spent Sunday night knocking on neighbors doors, then got a manager to open the door to his wifes apartment, where he found the child.

It was the worst that I can imagine, he said. I dont know how to describe it.

The couple, separated for a year, is in the process of getting a divorce, Lee said.

The Florida Department of Children Families was notified but didnt immediately determine who will have custody of the child, police said. Calls to the hospital for information on the childs condition were referred back to police.

Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Doug Blackburn
Albany Times Union
Sept. 5, 2003 12:00 AM

Andrew Smith is obsessed with ketchup. He claims he cant help himself. Its the price you pay for devoting years of research to Americas pre-eminent condiment.

Smith, a culinary historian at the New School in Manhattan and the author of Pure Ketchup (University of South Carolina Press, 1996), believes most of us are wearing blinders when it comes to ketchup.

We need to open ourselves to all the wacky, wonderful ways in which ketchup can be used to enhance a dish, Smith insists.

I put it on vanilla ice cream, he says. Dont laugh until youve tried it. I do all sorts of bizarre things with ketchup.

We use it a lot in cooking in our house. Most people dont think about it that way. They regard ketchup as a condiment and never consider it as a sauce, but it adds a nice brown color to meats and vegetables.

The world of ketchup extends far beyond the Big Three - Heinz, Hunts and Del Monte - although they thoroughly dominate the $450 million commercial ketchup industry.

Smith has identified more than 100 brands of ketchup in stores across the country, and these do not take into account the scores of original ketchups being created in restaurant kitchens.

He hopes to find a few more varieties of ketchup this Sunday at the seventh Epicurean Tomato Fete in the Berkshires. This years event, in addition to showcasing heirloom tomatoes and some of the regions finest chefs, features the inaugural National King Ketchup Competition.

There are four categories, among them a non-red tomato ketchup class that includes the use of black tomatoes and unripe green tomatoes. Smith is particularly keen on tasting different yellow ketchups, because he believes they are sweeter than the reds.

Another category is for an innovative ketchup using any combination of ingredients, such as historic non-tomato ketchups. It is here Smith will truly be in his element, because ketchup did not begin as a tomato-based sauce.

Mushrooms, anchovies and walnuts were the first ketchups, Smith explains. He has discovered historical recipes for ketchups made with lobster, oysters, blackberries and liver.

While today ketchup is regarded as American as apple pie - 97 percent of the homes in the United States contain at least one bottle of ketchup, Smith says - its origins lie on the other side of the Pacific.

British explorers brought the sauce back with them from Asia, either China or Indonesia. The name derives from the Chinese ke-tsiap, or fermented fish sauce. Ketchup, according to Smith, is any sauce made from a single ingredient that is spiced.

It was only during the last two centuries, thanks to the proliferation of tomatoes and the development of preservation techniques, that ketchup evolved into a tomato-based product. The perception of ketchup grew more narrow through the years.

Were trying to bring back a little bit of diversity in ketchup as well as diversity in tomatoes, explains Lawrence Davis-Hollander, director of the Eastern Native Seed Conservancy in Great Barrington, Mass., host of the Epicurean Tomato Fete. Our thing is seed preservation, but we want to promote some of the rich history of our foods as well.

The Berkshire-Columbia County chapter of Slow Food U.S.A. is a co-host of the ketchup competition.

Paul Parker, chef and co-owner of Chez Sophie Bistro in Malta, N.Y., will be among those demonstrating their creative flair using tomatoes at Sundays event at the Eastover Resort in Lenox, Mass. He plans to make a deconstructed ravioli with heirloom tomatoes from New Minglewood Farm in Greenwich, Washington County, N.Y.

Parker wishes he had had the time to come up with a ketchup recipe and enter the competition. His idea was to base it in fish sauce, like the first ketchups. There is no ketchup available, by the way, at his French restaurant.

I take that back, Parker says. I think the staff has gone to get lunch a couple of times and there may be a few of those little packets floating around somewhere in a drawer.

Smith, for one, is eager to see the spotlight shine on ketchup. The Japanese use it on their cabbage rolls, he says, while Greeks top pasta dishes with ketchup and Swedes use it on fish balls.

Ketchup is a thread to our past, a glimpse into our present and a link to our future, Smith says. Ketchup is one of the greatest success stories the sauce world has ever known.

Summers about to end, and with it our delighted roles as food artists. You know, the naked joy each time we paint streaks of red and yellow down the length of a hot dog and every time we squirt spirals on a hamburger patty.

If many of todays cutting-edge chefs design $50 plates with squeeze bottles filled with sauces, reductions and oils, you can bet they started as tots with the one and only American food paint - red tomato ketchup.

As Labor Day arrives, we can tip our hats to the American art of ketchup eating, cooking and designing. If it werent for the most popular American condiment, wed probably be stuck in the primal ooze of food seasoning. Along with salt and pepper, ketchup is one of the major flavor components of food.

Yet, ketchup has hidden charms. Explore them and you learn there are hundreds of ways to design with ketchup besides streaking hot dogs.

For a while, ketchups position as the American condiment was wobbly. A tidal wave of salsa threatened ketchups 100-year-plus rule as Americas top glop. In 1992, Packaged Facts, a food and beverage marketing research group, reported that salsa sales had grown 14 percent from the previous year, to $640 million; ketchup was at a mere $600 million. Salsa may have taken the top spot in dollars earned, but, says Robin Teets, spokesperson for Heinz North America, by volume, ketchup was always the leader. Salsa, he explains, has different host foods {ndash} i.e. not hot dogs. And, salsa was more expensive, so naturally it gained on ketchup in dollar amount. Ketchup wasnt always king.

In the beginning, ketchup wasnt red. It wasnt tomato, in fact. Historians have variously attributed the word itself to British, French, Arabic, Malay, Indonesian and Chinese (Cantonese as well as Amoy dialects) influences, among others. Whats clear is that ketchup primarily was a fish-, walnut- or mushroom-based condiment.

The generally accepted myth is that ketchup comes from Chinese origins, especially the Chinese who migrated to Indonesia and Malaysia, where the word kecap or kacap is still in everyday usage. Any Cantonese-speaking Chinese can rise to the occasion by noting that fan-kae jup, shortened to kae jup, sounds right and means right: tomato sauce or tomato gravy.

History in the making

But Andrew F. Smith, author of Pure Ketchup, a History of Americas National Condiment (Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001), questions this argument. He says that the origins of the word come from a confusing, well- mixed cauldron.

The word ketchup or some variation of it appeared in British cookery books as early as the 17th century, he writes, largely for something pickled. Sources reveal ketchup as a homemade sauce based on walnuts, fish or mushrooms, each of them boosted by spices and herbs such as cloves, pepper, ginger and mace, as well as garlic, onions, shallots, mustard, horseradish, cayenne and chili peppers. The job of the spices? They enhanced taste and masked the stench of putrefaction.

Early uses

Ketchup was used as a topping or sauce by itself, or as a finishing element in the making of sauces.

By 1742, ketchup recipes showed up across the Atlantic and were just as popular in the colonies as in mother Britain. Ketchup belonged in the cooks repertory along with the pickles and condiments of the American kitchen. A recipe for tomato ketchup, modeled on those earlier ketchups, was published in 1812. All of the ketchups succeeded for one great reason: They could keep for a long time. Already shelf life was the defining characteristic of American food.

A second great American characteristic also fit with ketchup: It could move. As a highly concentrated, cooked-down sauce, ketchup could be carried anywhere and, when added in a little dash to food, woke it up.

Going commercial

In Britain and America, ketchup recipes ran wild, Smith says.

Commercial ketchup-making started as a by-product of the tomato canning industry -- as a brown product. In 1869 in Sharpsburg, Pa., Heinz Noble Co. produced tomato and walnut ketchup for 24 cents per gallon and sold them from whiskey barrels. Later, H.J. Heinz emerged with his own company. He had found a way to purify tomato ketchup and keep it red. With that, he packaged it in a glass bottle. Although H.J. Heinz began as a pickles and horseradish manufacturer, ketchup became one of the companys main products.

By the early 20th century, Heinz was the largest tomato ketchup producer in the world. By the mid-20th century, homemade ketchup recipes virtually disappeared from cookbooks.

That was in America.

In another part of the world, ketchup led something of a parallel life. Kecap is part of everyday language in the Malay-speaking world.

However, it means something quite different. In Indonesia, kecap stands for various sauces. Kecap manis means sweetened soy sauce, a thick, syrupy brew of Chinese soy sauce cooked down with many spices, functioning, as it did in its early days in England and America, as a finishing sauce of concentrated flavors.

Exotic ingredients

Kecap manis contains palm sugar, garlic, star anise, galangal root and other spices, says Daniel Sudaryanto, sous chef at Betelnut, a Pan-Asian restaurant in San Francisco. Sudaryanto, 29, remembers cooking down soy sauce at home in Yogjakarta, Indonesia. Kecap manis is the most popular of the kecaps. Like American tomato ketchup, it is rarely homemade these days; rather, it is manufactured. Also like American tomato ketchup, it has become sweet. Then there is kecap asin, Sudaryanto says, meaning salty soy sauce, which is used as a dipping sauce in Indonesian cuisine.

Sauce Americana

American ketchup delivers a shock to Indonesian newcomers. Sudaryanto chuckles when he describes the first time he asked for ketchup in this country and got a red, tomato-y product. It was different, he says. Another Indonesian immigrant, Fi Li Tjioe, who operates a small coffee stall in a San Francisco corporate building, says she exclaimed, This is what we call saus tomat! when she was first served American ketchup. Even in Sulawesi, Indonesia, where she grew up, she says, the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant dispensed red chili sauce next to saus tomat, or ketchup. She would use both.

Flavor fusion

Alex Ong, Malaysian-born executive chef of Betelnut, says that kecap and ketchup both retain the role of a seasoning in Asian cuisine. Like the original early ketchups of the West, it is the finishing ingredient in many sauces, providing one more facet of flavor. Tomato ketchup is primarily a sweetened, concentrated, tomato flavor called for in everything from sweet-and- sour fish to dishes such as chile crab {ndash} which is what ketchup was originally meant to do.

So the idea of painting with ketchup lives on, but in complex and subtle ways, closer to the way the early ketchups of fish, mushrooms and walnuts were called on to wake up sauces.

Then theres yet another unexpected use -- this one from the July 2003 United Kingdom edition of Cosmopolitan Hair: If your recently highlighted locks have turned a green tinge from too many pool parties, jump at the nearest BBQ invite and smother your hair in Heinz tomato ketchup for 10 minutes. The PH-balance will bring your hair back to full colour.

Thats what we said: Ketchup is the ultimate food paint.

The incident: During a race around the bases featuring 8-foot-tall hot dogs,

Pirates first baseman Randall Simon swatted the Italian sausage from behind with his bat, which toppled the sausage and the hot dog, resulting in injuries (scraped knees) to the two women in the suits. A bratwurst and a Polish sausage, seriously, escaped unharmed.

Dusty Baker says hes surprised the sausage went down so easily, since Italians have such low centers of gravity.

Why all the heat on Simon? He should be praised for hitting behind the runner.

Because this was a condiment-related incident, Simon will be charged with assault and pepper.

Ive seen people attack their food, but this is ridiculous.

Wouldnt you like to be there when Simons cellmate says, Im in for homicide. How about you?

Simon, true story, gave each woman an autographed bat. Thus starting a new trend in the world of mugging.

The worst part of the incident is that it stripped the race of its dignity.

Brewers VP of operations Rick Schlesinger says he is outraged and sickened by the insane act. Schlesinger also says he isnt too crazy about what Simon did.

The Italian sausage, named Guido, has a head stuffed with foam, and is manufactured by the same company that makes Sammy Sosas bats.

Bud Selig, true story, issued a statement that Major League Baseball deeply regrets the incident and extends its regards to the victims. Selig also said, As a nation, we feel your scraped-knee pain.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Blue cheese, blueberries and chicken cordon bleu, but blue ketchup? The H.J. Heinz Co., which has sold the condiment in red, green, purple, pink, orange and teal, is adding blue to its palette of crazy-colored ketchup. The Pittsburgh company unveiled Heinz EZ Squirt Stellar Blue this week, just in time for spring and summer — hot seasons for condiments.

H.J. Heinz Co., which has sold the condiment in red, green, purple, pink, orange and teal, is adding blue to its palette of crazy-colored ketchup. Keith Srakocic, AP

Based on the success of the other colors, the food giant expects the new color to provide a boost to all ketchup sales, not just the oddly tinted ones, said Heinz spokesman Robin Teets.

Since Heinz introduced its first shade, Blastin Green, in October 2000, the company sold more than 25 million bottles of colored ketchup. Last year, Heinz controlled 60% of the American ketchup market, an all-time high for the company, Teets said.

Every time the company introduces a color, its share of the market bumps up a bit, Teets said.

Its the time of year when overall sales goes up. Theres a nice bump in volume from EZ Squirt products, but we tend to have a halo over ketchup, overall, Teets said.

Christine McCracken, an analyst with Midwest Research, said she is not surprised Heinz would introduce a new color, based on the other colors incremental success.

Theres probably some cannibalization of existing products. If youre going to buy blue ketchup, you might not buy traditional ketchup, McCracken said.

The condiment maker stopped producing Blastin Green and Funky Purple, but consumers can still find it on some grocers shelves. Of course, EZ Squirt still comes in traditional red.

Like the companys Mystery Color, which was rolled out in April 2002, Heinz will produce a limited supply of 500,000 blue bottles.

Heinz produced 1 million rainbow-colored, mystery bottles last year. Consumers who bought the ketchup didnt know, until they squirted it on a burger or fries, whether they got pink, orange or teal.

The company hoped customers reactions would help it decide its next hue, but no one color became a front runner. Instead, customers called for blue, Teets said.

EZ Squirt is a strong product for Heinz because it keeps young consumers tastes in mind, Teets said.

The insight behind EZ Squirt wasnt about color at all, it was about the bottle, which was designed with kids hands in mind, he said.

Theres no telling what shade ketchup will take next, but the company keeps an eye on ideas from customers — especially those who get a kick out of weird-colored food.

Its not mom and dads ketchup, Teets said. If parents think its a little strange, thats all the better for kids.

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

A new squeezable bottle is helping Heinz say bottoms up to consumers, with Easy Squeeze ketchup in an inverted bottle. This month, hot on the heels of its Easy Squirt® kids condiment and Heinz KickRs® flavored ketchups, which arrived on store shelves in May in squeezable packaging, the Pittsburgh company is at it again, but this time aiming to turn the category ketchup-side-down.

Easy Squeeze comes in what is being called an ergonomically designed bottle with no mess and no waiting–somewhat of a turnaround for Heinz, which once extolled the virtues of the anticipation of a slow pour. Today, with the inverted bottle, the company is now offering consumers instant gratification.

Heinz announced Easy Squeeze to retailers in April, in anticipation of a general-public announcement, reports Casey Keller, managing director of Ketchup, Condiments Sauces at Heinz. Were confident that consumers will be delighted when the ... ketchup...arrives on the shelves in this exciting new package. These [recent] innovations have driven category growth while increasing Heinzs ketchup sales approximately seven percent annually over the past two years, giving the brand a record sixty-percent market share.

In development for two years, the new clear, polyethylene terephthalate bottle is molded by Owens-Illinois in 20- and 32-oz sizes. It gives consumers greater control over the ketchup through Seaquists stay-clean SimpliSqueeze 2/8-in., polypropylene dispensing cap that features a patented silicone valve that directs the product only where the user wants it to go. The bottles are filled and capped at a Heinz facility in Fremont, OH, on existing equipment, says spokesperson Robin Teets. Keller says that more innovations are on the way from Heinz this summer.

Not to be outdone, Hunts is heating up the ketchup wars with Huntsw Perfect Squeeze Ketchup, in a 28-oz, inverted bottle. This one is a super-curvy, topsy-turvy, no-mess bottle from Pechiney, designed to fit both big and little hands. Made of PP with an ethylene vinyl alcohol barrier, the bottle, like the one from Heinz, is also topped with a bright red PP SimpliSqueeze closure. Dubbed the first and only hassle-free ketchup by ConAgra Foods Hunts, Perfect Squeeze features an inverted, easy-grip bottle that dispenses the ketchup easily and neatly with no waiting, shaking or dripping. Hunts says the bottles no-drip spout allows users to squeeze out the right amount of ketchup without the problems associated with regular ketchup bottles, and will help families keep ketchup on target on their favorite foods like burgers, hot dogs, fries, and more.

A vividly printed oriented polystyrene sleeve label from American Fuji Seal reveals illustrations of tomatoes and bright yellow and green banners proclaiming, New, No Mess! and No drip spout! The 28-oz ketchup bottle will retail for $2.19

To alleviate its condiment customers top beefs concerning the performance of its Frenchs® Mustard packaging, Reckitt Benkiser, Inc. has re-dressed its Classic Yellow® and specialty mustard flavors in a new, more squeezable bottle, with a stay-clean closure that prevents the mustard crust from forming on the cap after use. In development in-house for 14 months, the new package not only offers a number of different benefits to the consumer, says Kristin Veriga, senior brand manager for Frenchs, but it also provides trade benefits and manufacturing efficiencies.

Constructed of yellow high-density polyethylene for the Classic Yellow brand, and clear polyethylene terephthalate for the specialty mustards, the new container from Owens-Brockway has been engineered with less material, making it more squeezer-friendly. In addition, the bottles elliptical footprint and contoured, hourglass shape allow all product to be evacuated from the container, and make it easier to grip, says Veriga. Less plastic has also resulted in a $2-million per year manufacturing savings for Frenchs.

From a trade perspective, the bottles shape is more space-efficient than the previous packaging, allowing retailers to fit 16 bottles into the same space previously occupied by 12, which keeps inventory levels low, maximizes shelf space and eliminates out-of-stock situations, says Veriga.

Marketing advantages include a larger billboard area for Frenchs biggest branding device, the red pennant and white brand logo, which have been modernized for the new bottle. Yellow mustard bottles use in-mold labels, while specialty mustards receive pressure-sensitive front and back labels.

Perhaps the biggest breakthrough in the new package design, however, is the bottles closure, created by Frenchs packaging engineer, Dave Maus, specifically to address the issue of crusty caps. Explains Veriga, The cap incorporates a silicone valve that creates a vacuum seal that sucks the mustard back into the bottle after use. Advantages, he says, include fresher mustard, less dripping and the elimination of the gook on the cap.

Veriga relates that the Frenchs cap represents the first time this technology has been used with a condiment. Thus, to produce the pylon-shaped, flip-top closure, supplier Owens-Illinois was required to bring in special equipment, he says.

Appearing on store shelves last spring, the mustard is offered in a range of bottle sizes. Classic Yellow comes in 8-, 14- and 20-oz bottles, as well as in a 30-oz clubstore size; Deli Mustard, Honey Mustard, Sweet Onion, and Dijon Mustard varieties are sold in a 12-oz size.

To most adults, it just doesnt look right to see a child dunking a french fry into a puddle of green ketchup. But those whose taste buds arent tempted by anything but the familiar bright red condiment had better get ready - theres more coming.

The latest ketchup color, funky purple, is expected to hit the supermarket shelves soon - perhaps even this week, according to Buddy Foster, assistant manager at Reasors. Its the latest addition to the Heinz pallette. Company officials hope to build on last years success with a blastin green ketchup. In seven months, H.J. Heinz Co. sold more than 10 million bottles of green ketchup, pushing up total sales by 5.4 percent and helping the company boost its share of the U.S. ketchup market to 59 percent from 55 percent, spokesman Michael Mullen said.

Heinz promises that the ketchup keeps the companys signature taste and recipe, with a little Blue No. 1 and Red No. 3 thrown in to shade the condiment. The company still makes its traditional red. Since kids like purple, especially when embodied by Barney the Dinosaur, thats a natural color for the new ketchup.

Its something different for the kids, Foster said. We think itll sell pretty well. Hes never personally sampled the green ketchup. The store sells quite a bit of it, but nobody has ever commented about it to him.

Paul Ruffinfelli, who works in the grocery division at Wal-Mart Supercenter, said the green ketchup had been selling good.

I think the kids like the novelty of it, he said. The kids are who grab it. The adults dont mess with it. He hasnt tasted the green ketchup either, but has just stared at it in the bottle. Burger King featured the green ketchup for two or three months, but now is handing out only the traditional red with its burgers and fries.

We started serving it before the Shrek movie came out, and then after the movie, Manager Garland Jenkins said. The kids loved it. Some adults took it to try it out. Were out of it now, but we still have people asking for it.

The green ketchup coordinated with the green character portrayed in the movie. There are no plans to bring the green ketchup back, Jenkins said.

©Tahlequah Daily Press 2003

Ingredients:

Squeeze condiment packet (soy sauce, ketchup, etc.)

Clear plastic bottle with tight-fitting lid

A glass, bottle or cup of water
The Recipe:
1) First, you have to figure out if your condiment packet is a good Cartesian diver candidate. Fill a glass with water and drop in your packet. The best packets are ones that just barely float.

2) After you have found the proper packet, fill an empty, clear plastic bottle to the top with water. Shove your unopened condiment packet into the bottle.

3) Replace the cap... And youre done! Squeeze the bottle to make the diver sink, and release to make it rise. Amazing!.

Food for Thought:
Many sauces are denser than water, but it is the air bubble at the top of the sauce that determines whether the packet will sink or swim. Squeezing the bottle causes the bubble to shrink. This smaller bubble is less buoyant and the packet sinks.

Orginally published in The Physics Teacher, May 1996