# Ketchup



## ShaiserManelli (Jan 14, 2009)

How long does ketchup stay good unrefrigerated?


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Un-opened - check the shelf-life listed on the bottle itself. It will have a best-before date. Opened - keep in the fridge - watch for any possible color change.

If you are talking about the ketchup packages from a fast-food-joint - don't keep them more than a year (fridge or on counter). For the ketchup packages, open carefully and squeeze out into a dish. If the color is no longer red but more of a brown - discard.


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## merlotmaker (Jan 15, 2009)

I was wondering the same thing about ranch dressing---refridgerated though---how long should it be good for?


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

I have a hard time trusting anything with milk products in it that has sat around for too long. If the ranch is not opened you can trust the expiry date. If you've opened it I'd be a little more suspicious. 

I always make a note to never re-buy anything that ends up as a piece in the "food museum" in my fridge. If it takes more than a month or so to eat it I just don't buy it again.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

merlotmaker I have kept open bulk jars of ranch dressing for 6 months refridgerated

naekid, I have eaten the brown ketchup before (didn't they warn people about that at Woodstock?  )


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## Roi du Rodentia (Jan 7, 2009)

ShaiserManelli said:


> How long does ketchup stay good unrefrigerated?


STAY GOOD? you're joking, right? Ketchup or even catsup depending on your personal preference is at best a toxic substance that should not be allowed in any home! Ketchup and good jammed together in the same sentence?
Now I've seen everything


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## MudDuck (Jan 7, 2009)

Ketchup will last a long time unrefridged, it's very acidic. Just watch for "bubbles" in it, thats when it's going bad.


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

What's wrong with Ketchup?


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Canadian said:


> What's wrong with Ketchup?


maybe it's... 'addictive'   ?


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## TimB (Nov 11, 2008)

Canadian said:


> What's wrong with Ketchup?


I rarely eat it anymore but was wondering what also?

Tim


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## Merlin (Dec 25, 2008)

Hi not really about how long but just a idea of use if your ketchup goes bad or V8 juice is beyond its shelf life it can me used as a cleaner for many things including oxidized Aluminum you seen it when it gets that pimpled corroded look will take it right off just soak it until you like what you see.. well that's my 22 1/2 cents


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## merlotmaker (Jan 15, 2009)

You can use it to clean because of the acid in it, correct?

And yeah, what is so bad about ketchup?? I love it!


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

Ketchup is just not very healthy that's all.


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## Ebin (Nov 20, 2008)

What about fancy ketchup? LOL


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

Yeah, what about the Grey Poupon of ketchups?


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## dyermaker (Jan 28, 2009)

What are some better alternatives to ketchup? My kids are big dippers and insist on dipping everything in something!


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

Mustard, Mayo, BBQ sauce, Hosin Sauce, Thai Satay Sauce, Thai Peanut Sauce, Soy Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, Mango Chutney, HP, Hienz 57, A1, Cocktail Sauce, Tartar Sauce, Salad Dressing... There's lots of stuff.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Dean said:


> Ketchup is just not very healthy that's all.


 ... REALLY?

from the USDA Food Nutrient Database.

Nutrient: Ketchup (100g)
Energy 100 kcal 
Water 68.33g 
Protein 1.74g 
Fats 0.36 g 
Carbohydrates 25.78 g 
Sodium 1110 mg ( OR 20 mg for the low sodium variety)
Vitamin C 15.1 mg 
Lycopene 19.0 mg

Ketchup has been shown to provide significant health benefits but many argue that these benefits are offset by the food's salt and sugar content. Ketchup has been found to be a beneficial source of lycopene, an antioxidant which may help prevent some forms of cancer. This is particularly true of the organic brands of ketchup. In fact, organic brands were found to contain three times as much lycopene as non-organic brands. Ketchup, much like marinara sauce and other cooked tomato foods, yields higher levels of lycopene per serving because cooking makes lycopene in tomatoes more bio-available.

100g = 3.6 oz! that's as much MEAT as in a 1/4 lb burger... do YOU use that much ketchup at one time? 

I'll admit that IS a lot of sodium in regular ketchup (easily rectified)


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## skip (Dec 13, 2008)

One simple solution. Make your own


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## EvilTOJ (Dec 4, 2008)

The only thing bad about ketchup is the high fructose corn syrup they add to it. And that's only bad because they add HFCS to EVERYthing these days. You can buy sugar free, or some organic ketchups are sugar free as well.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is the 'flavor-of-the-moment' current stand-in for everything that is wrong with the world. It has been blamed for childhood obesity by prominent politicians, hyped by food activists as the cause of environmental catastrophes, and casually called poison by people who want to police our dinner tables. Both science and common sense beg for skepticism. But now there are five good reasons to call shenanigans on the supposed link between obesity and HFCS. And they’re all published in a recent supplement to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The five papers confirm that the anti-HFCS doctrine—instigated by activists and disseminated by a scientifically ignorant and bewildered media... is groundless. As USA TODAY reports, the studies “find no special link between consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity.” In other words, HFCS affects our bodies in the same way as regular table sugar. The sugar-is-natural/HFCS-is-evil routine was getting a bit old anyway. So I'm glad that some research is finally validating that, as one researcher put it, “sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup are not that different." 

USA TODAY suggests these five papers were a reaction to previous studies—one in the same journal and by the same author—which concluded that there was a link between HFCS and obesity. Those studies, of course, look pretty shaky today. The real lesson here goes deeper than sugar and syrup: Don’t allow half-baked science to metastize into nutritional dogma. 

The kind of high-fructose syrup that is added to so many different foods in the USA is made from corn and consists of 53% fructose and 47% glucose, both of which are slightly different sugars. Table sugar, which scientists call sucrose, is made from sugar cane or sugar beets and consists of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Sooo... the "high" in HFCS is 3% more than table sugar, hmmm... At high levels of consumption, fructose, whether from high-fructose corn syrup OR from table sugar, increases triglycerides (fat) in the bloodstream, which could be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The Harvard School of Public Health reports that the amount of trans fat in the average American's diet has not changed since the 1950s. Since that time, our life expectancy has grown - but so have our irrational fears. 

In a court of law, the burden of proof falls on those leveling the accusations. But public opinion doesn’t work that way. In the media, even unfounded accusations immediately put the defendants in the unfair position of having to prove their innocence (anybody ever read about McCarthyism or the Salem Witch Trials?). This inversion of opinion vs. fact allows nutrition activists to adopt a “guilty until proven innocent” approach when slandering their bogeyman-of-the-month. 

Bottom line: Trans fat definitely isn't healthy, but that doesn't make HFCS nearly the apocalyptic danger a few charismatic agenda-wielding fearmongers say it is.


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## Nadine (Oct 9, 2008)

How does the organic ketchup taste? Can anyone recommend me a good brand to try?


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

Organic tastes good too. I think heinz makes one.


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## Magi (Feb 25, 2009)

Every one needs a couple of vices why not let Ketchup be one of them


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

Yeah, it's not like you inject it into your arm or something.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Canadian said:


> Yeah, it's not like you inject it into your arm or something.


you don't??...

...
...
...

ketchup: I is doing it wrong...


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## RonnieGret (Mar 17, 2009)

Yeah, you're supposed to snort it...not slam it. 

Ha.


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## Lucy (Mar 27, 2009)

Most things like salad dressings, mayo, ketchup, will keep in the fridge about 3 months. After that they should be tossed. Ketchup needs to be kept in the fridge once opened. It can ferment at room temps. 
You could freeze ketchup, though. 
There are some recipes for canning your own, too. Some are pretty good, I hear. 
They take time to make, though, with all the prep work of the tomatoes.


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