Ketchup: Newsletter Challenge (04/04/06)

DUH! Squeeze the bottle.

You win!!!

I assume that the ketchup is in a glass bottle. In that case, heat the neck of the bottle over the bbq pit for a couple minutes. That should reduce the viscosity of the ketchup and cause it to flow easier. Samsook

I find that a one gallon paint mixer works well.

wrap a knife several times on the "57" molded onto the bottle they flow will start right away.

Thats the answer, but forget the knife, your hand works just as well. I don't know why though, I just really like ketchup, and was a waiter for many years.

too...That trick used to always amaze customers. Seems to be common knowledge in the restaurant industry but not the public. I'd say on the "57" spot breaks the vacuum thus releasing the ketchup.

Wrapping a knife... Isn't that a Yuri trick? Oh, yeah, he used spoons and forks. ;-)

Secure the cap. Hold the bottle upside down at arms length. Swing the bottle back and forth a few times to force the ketchup to the top of the bottle. It will pour right out when the cap is opened. Alternatively you can grasp the bottle, again upside down, near the middle and rotate it rapidly like a paint shaker, and the ketchup is forced to the top of the bottle. This has only been tested on Heinz ketchup since all other brands don't count as ketchup.

Hmmmm....can we use the drill, tygon tubing, and air compressor lying on the picnic table, next to the knife?

Ketchup is a thixotropic fluid, similar in properties to bentonite, or drilling mud. One of it's properties is that it's viscosity is dependant upon recent conditions. Cap the bottle, and shake it vigourously. This will lower it's viscosity, allowing it to flow far easier. After sitting for a while, it's viscosity will again increase, making it hard to pour!

I am messaging here...where the reason the catchup doesn't flow is understood. I have always relied on either of two, discrete methods that always work. Bear in mind that this is a new bottle--not a restaurant refill--so it has space at the top (in the neck), but the method to break the viscosity lock works in either situation. But first an aside. Anyone remember how the ketchup mfr--Heinz I believe it was--used to take advantage of the flow resistance, of the viscosity lock, to make the disengenuous claim that their ketchup was thicker than others? When, in fact it is not thicker...and thinner than some? End of digression. Method 1 (for the refined diner): First place the cap on the bottle, and force the "product" to the bottom of the bottle and out of the neck by striking the bottom of the bottle against the palm of the hand. Do not strike it against the table--that's rude and the bottle could break. Next, remove the cap and gradually invert the bottle, to horizontal and then to just beyond horizontal. At the approximate horizontal position, shake the neck of the bottle in a plane parallel to the table top or floor/ground/patio/whatever. Not wild swings or the contents could be forced out and onto bystanders. Just short shakes of about an inch or two, side to side--a jiggling with intent, you might say. You're only trying to get the product to begin to flow--after that, gravity will do the trick so long as you do not permit the neck to become clogged. Be sure not to drive the product so as to totally obstruct the neck--leave an air path for air to replace the product as if flows out. As soon as the product becomes less "rigid" and begins to flow, slowly tip the bottle's bottom. Very quickly a good flow will begin, so take it easy--be ready to adjust the bottle's angle to control the flow rate. The wrist action used in shaking the bottle neck from side to side would be something akin to making a heavy chalk mark on a black board, or to a child coloring in a small area of a line drawing by swiping the crayon back and forth in short strokes. Method 2 is for those bottle thumpers among us...except this time we're not going to attempt impelling the product out of the bottle; instead we are going to thump so as to drive (or seem to drive) the product farther into the bottle--knock it in an upward direction towards the bottom of the bottle. Open the bottle and invert it, with the neck opening aimed at the target. The bottle should be oriented at a slant from vertical--about 10-20 degrees or so--the slant is important so that the product doesn't drop down too quickly and clog the neck...or come out precipitously in a big splat. For right handed's (left handed's is the opposite), the bottle will be held in the palm, thumb up, of the left hand. Now, with the heel of the palm of the right hand. strike the side of the bottle along the neck just below (which would be above, but for the bottle's inversion) the juncture between the neck and the body of the bottle, in an upward direction--the bottom of the bottle will be pointing towards the sky or ceiling. Use glancing blows to knock the bottle in an upward, oblique direction while the left hand restrains the bottle from flying off...the action is similar to (male) clapping loudly with cupped palms; the impact pressure is similar, or slightly less than, punching a baseball glove. With only a few blows, the product will be agitated, will hop up into the bottle, the neck will be cleared, while on the far side of the bottle the product will begin to flow downward under gravity and out through the neck of the bottle. As the product begins to flow, lower the bottle to a less vertical orientation--so that the desired flow rate control can be attained. When you finish, replace the cap and thump the bottom of the bottle for the next user--so the neck isn't clogged when he/she picks up the bottle. These are consistently reliable methods, whereas various kinds of mere shakings--like a mischievous kid shaking a soda bottle--work sometimes, don't work so well other times.

Wow, and I thought I was long-winded! I have seen a variation of Method 2 used by one of the waiters on a cruise ship. He actually instructed my boys in the method when they asked.

"...instead we are going to thump so as to drive (or seem to drive) the product farther into the bottle--knock it in an upward direction towards the bottom of the bottle." The key here is "seem to drive" the product farther into the bottle. This action actually propels the product toward the opening, like when your stopped car is struck from behind, your car moves foward but your head snaps back, causing whiplash!

In the variation we saw, instead of holding the semi-inverted bottle stationary in one hand and striking just past the neck (the shoulder?) of the bottle with the heel of the other hand, our waiter made a shaking motion towards the target plate, which was stopped short violently by impacting the heel of his other hand. Same action upon the ketchup, but enhanced by the higher momentum of the speeding bottle! One or two such shakes was usually enough. Now I use this "trick" on any problematic glass ketchup bottles!

Banging on the bottle (or shaking it) works because ketchup is a thixotropic (non-newtonian) fluid. It is thicker when undisturbed than it is when shaken or stirred. After agitation, the viscosity drops off. See: http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/lab/ketchup/

I tried it and it works fine. --Don Thixote

If the bottle is glass, and you can't use a knife, then inset a drinking straw down to the bottom, that way air can get to the bottom of the bottle when it is inverted. If the bottle was plastic then you wouln't be fighting with the ketchup.

Why not use the straw like a pipette. Gross, but it would get the job done and you won't be endangering those around you with bottle gyrations.

Hold the bottle horizontal and tap it in a downward motion. This will allow the ketchup to flow out.

Ketchup, like drill mud, is thixotropic... Cap the bottle and shake vigourously for a minute, the ketchup will liquify and pour easily.

Anticipation

A method taught at an early age, both discreet and functional, was a light tapping of the neck of the inverted bottle on the fingers of the opposite hand near the intended point of dispensing. This provided a quiet unassuming controlled flow of an uncooperative bottle..

Hitting the "57" is a well known trick for the glass bottles. A question for all of you is this: Does the ketchup need to be refrigerated? You won't find a label to tell you to do so, yet most people insist on refrigerating the condiment. I never have refrigerated my ketchup, and it always tastes good. Anyone disagree?

Ketchup is highly acidic and does not require refrigeration. However, any food product will last longer if refrigerated. Do you like cold ketchup or warm? That's the real question. jj

Maybe. But I keep it in the fridge because there's a well on the door in which it fits just right...and it's close to the food that needs it. When I keep it sitting or lying out on the table, the cats knock it off onto the floor. When I keep it in the cabinet (with the other bottles that don't get used very much) it always seems to migrate to the back, out of sight...so I wind up buying Katsup that I already have. That's the real question: which way is more convenient?

"Ketchup is highly acidic and does not require refrigeration."

A matter of degrees, in both senses. Yes, ketchup/catsup is highly acidic, but so are the tomatoes it is made from, and they rot fairly quickly if left unrefrigerated, right? The condiment will last a few days or even a week or so unrefrigerated, depending on the storage temperature. If you use ketchup quickly, you may never need to refrigerate it, but if it is seldom used, it will eventually go bad, as the sugar in solution will begin to ferment.

Usually, you can tell this by the vinegary smell or by the release of gas pressure when you open the cap. Haven't most of us tried to use at one time or another a bottle of restaurant ketchup that had been left unused on the table too long? Yuck!

You're almost there... ...in addition to the vinegar, a preservative--including that by post-consumer fermentation--there's also the salt, also a preservative--lots of it.

Punultimately, it might be asked: has one ever seen an expiration, or "sell-by," date on commercially-sold ketchup or catsup?

So it seems...that the ultimate solution to the orginal inquirer's dilemma might be... ...that it's a question worth answering, but not a question worth asking.

There's something about
A ketchup bottle -
First none comes out,
Then a lott'l.

Anon.

I don't know why yours ketchup does not come out from the bottle. We don't have these problem in here.

firstly its not ketchup its sauce all u have to do is shoot it into space no seriously just add a few drops of hot water and shake tadar it flows like a new one