Ketchup
Based on a Simmons National Consumer Survey, over 300 million Americans consumed ketchup last year, but it appears that the majority of us have little to no idea how to correctly store this sweet sauce. Should we refrigerate it? Should we just let it sit on the counter? Let’s find out!
According to Heinz Ketchup, their product doesn’t need to be kept in the fridge after you open it. This is possible because of its acidic nature. It makes it shelf-stable. But once you open it, its freshness and stability might be affected, and refrigerating it becomes the best idea.
If you are curious how restaurants can always keep their ketchup bottles on the tables all day long, well, that is a facade. They don’t actually do that. Restaurants always portion the ketchup every day, and after closing hours, they empty the bottles and refill them with fresh sauce.
4 thoughts on “7 Things You Should ALWAYS Refrigerate (But Probably Don’t)”
I never refrigerate my ketchup, as I don’t want cold condiment on a warm hamburger! I’m fortunate to have a pantry on an outside wall with no insulation so it’s very cool in there!
I’m glad to learn things I always refrigerate is the right thing to do.
Also glad to learn the things I don’t refrigerate is also the right way to go!
I have worked many restaurants as waitstaff and have NEVER dumped ketchup at the end of a shift and refilled bottles with fresh. I HAVE always topped off the bottle so that it APPEARS to be a fresh bottle. Not my idea of fresh but an industry standard and policy of most restaurant parent companies. You can bet that the bottles are not washed between fills even if the policy is to dump at the end of day.
Yep, it’s cross contamination and super gross. I watched a patron use his knife to run up in the ketchup bottle, after using it on his plate. Putting fresh product on top of old product is always wrong but I know what people do at the table, I always ask for packets. lol.