Heinz breeding sweeter tomatoes so they can cut High Fructose Corn Syrup from thier ketchup.

[TheMightyFavog]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90277097

All over the country, backyard gardeners are nurturing tomato seedlings, hoping to have some ripe, red fruit in time for their summer barbecues.

At a research farm in California, scientists for H.J. Heinz Co. are also cautiously eyeing their young tomato plants. Their goal, however, is a little more specific.

Heinz is trying to breed a sweeter tomato in order to cut down on the costly corn syrup now used in its ketchup. It's one response to the soaring price of corn, caused in part by the ethanol boom.

(snip)

Heinz figures it could save money on corn sweetener if it could grow tomatoes with more natural sugars. The seeds of that effort are now taking root at the company's research center in Stockton, Calif.

I think that it's kind of cool that Heinz is not genetically engineering these tomatoes in a lab, if you read on in this article, it says that they are developing their tomato the old fashioned way through selective breeding.

[JerseygirlCT]

1. Sounds like a smart idea

I don't care for ketchup, myself. But lots do.

[thunder rising]

19. Right ... like don't fix the sugar subsidies and quotas that are fucking this country

And forcing us to eat corn syrup.

[Bluebear]

2. Sounds tasty, & now I want a BLT

Can't wait for summer tomatoes!

[LisaM]

3. Not a huge ketchup fan either - too sweet for me -

but if an unintended benefit of higher corn prices is getting HFCS out of our diets, I'll be glad. That stuff is poison.

[KamaAina]

4. I hear their research scientists are also looking into an alternative sweetener called "sugar"

derived from the cane plant or beet root.

Initial results appear promising, but further testing will be required before FDA approval is granted.

:eyes:

[Ioo]

10. What? That is a pipe dream!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I recently bought a bottle of their ketchup...

But I failed to read the damned label!

When I got home, I took a look, and look out! :nuke:

I was pissed!

I really hate to see that stuff in anything I eat!

So...I wish them well in their research ...

We will all benefit, one way or the other!

[SoCalDem]

6. Why not just go back to SUGAR (if it must be "sweeter")

instead of genetically modifying tomatoes..

[DJ13]

8. You beat me!

:thumbsup:

[SoCalDem]

11. recipe for homemade below in my reply..looks easy enough

:)

[Joanie Baloney]

18. Cane sugar, to be exact

Mexican ketchup still uses cane sugar and it is soooooooo tasty. Many restaurants here in San Diego feature Mexican ketchup and Mexican Coca-Cola precisely because the cane sugar makes it so much better than that damn HFCS.

;)

-JB

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. Why not just make tomatoes that make their own extra sugar?

:shrug:

[DJ13]

7. Why dont they just go back to their original formula that used cheaper sugar?

Why do these companies feel they have to use HFCS instead of traditional sugar?

Its almost as if theres some law preventing it.

[SoCalDem]

9. Make your own.. from epicurious website

Ingredients
1 (28-oz) can whole tomatoes in purée
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preparation
Purée tomatoes (with purée from can) in a blender until smooth.

Cook onion in oil in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 8 minutes. Add puréed tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, vinegar, and salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until very thick, about 1 hour (stir more frequently toward end of cooking to prevent scorching).

Purée ketchup in 2 batches in blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Chill, covered, at least 2 hours (for flavors to develop).

Cooks' note:
Ketchup can be chilled up to 3 weeks.

[DJ13]

14. Sounds kinda good!

I saved a copy to try, thanks!

:hi:

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Saw an old colonial recipe in Turlansky's "Salt" ... it was mostly ...

well, salt, and tomatoes -- excuse me, "love apples", as they were then known. Apparently "ketchup", "catsup" etc. originally came from Indonesian cooking and meant all kinds of sauces prepared from vegetables -- the Dutch imported the idea to Europe & America, and I guess Americans turned the focus to specifically tomato ketchup (tomatoes are native to the New World, so would be novel to Europeans). Be interesting to try to make some, although the recipe is very imprecise, as such old recipes were.

[SoCalDem]

I have a cookbook that was my grandmothers

and some of the recipe ingredients listed , i have never heard of :)..and many of them call for lard :)

[hisownpetard]

12. Thank you, Teresa Kerry!

[guitar man]

13. that's great

My 2 year old daughter cannot eat anything with HFCS in it, and she loves her Ketchup. So far, the only natural ketchup I've found is about 3 times the price of all the others :(

[SoCalDem]

15. recipe for homemade ..sounds easy enough

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3290958&mesg_id=3291004

[guitar man]

16. thank you!

:hi:

[grasswire]

17. what did they use BEFORE HFCS???

Geez.

Rocket scientists.

[SoCalDem]

20. Cane sugar..probably from Hawaii or maybe even (horrors!!) Cuba?

and other caribbean places that USED to sell us sugar before the sugar cartels in Florida (see Jeb Bush)?/ That would be MY guess

[Javaman]

21. Can't get enough of those sugar mata'rs! nt

[Westegg]

22. But mass production of tomatoes in the first place...

...led to their bland taste, which is why they need corn syrup to hide it. I shudder to think what a tomato that goes into Heinz ketchup actually tastes like. The crap they sell for $4 a pound in "gourmet" NYC groceries is awful enough.

[mountainvue]

23. Hopefully Heinz will lead the way

in eradicating high fructose corn syrup from food.

[frickaline]

24. brilliant! it's about time! nt

[applegrove]

25. HFCS in Ketchup? I never knew.

[Retrograde]

26. you'd be surprised what it's in

peanut butter, bread for starters. I was cooking for someone on a no sugar diet last summer and was surprised by some of the places I found HFCS. I'm on a 1-person boycott of the stuff right now (for political reasons: I think we give too much in the way of subsidies to large mid-Western agribusinesses like Archer Daniel Midland)

[deminks]

29. Yes, some pickles have it, most breads, some mustards,

some tomato sauces, some salad dressings including vinagrettes, some of the least expected products. I read every label anymore.

[tabasco]

28. Heinz makes a good product.

Thier pickles and relish are great.

[distantearlywarning]

30. Good! Now let's get it out of everything else too! n/t

[DU GrovelBot]

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[pleah]

33. They should switch to using Stevia.

Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Stevia
Species: rebaudiana
Common Names: Sweet Leaf of Paraguay
Part used: Leaves

Discription:

Properties/Actions: Hypoglycemic, Antifungal, Hypotensive, Vasodilator

Phytochemicals: Aluminum, Ascorbic-Acid, Ash, Austroinulin, Beta-carotene, Calcium, Chromium, Cobalt,
Dulcosides, Iron, Magnesuim, Manganese, Niacin, Phosphorus, Potassium, Protein, Rebaudiosides, Riboflavin, Selenium, Silicon, Sodium, Steviol, Stevioside, Thiamin, Tin, Zinc.

It is now used around the world. It is also, supposed to be safe for diabetics to use.
Stevioside is considered 300 times sweeter than sucrose at 0.4% sucrose concentration, 150 times sweeter at 4% sucrose and 100 times sweeter at 10% sucrose concentration.


There is a lot mose info. about this plant, but it would take to long to type.

I will try to find a link for this info.
http://www.stevia.net/%20