Heinz Tomato Ketchup Real Jalapeño

It's not often that one sees Heinz ketchup offer a limited time variation.

The moment I heard about it, I dashed to my local store, and I found myself rewarded.

Jalapeño is one of my favorite flavors, though it seems an odd bedfellow for ketchup.  Despite the fact that tomatoes and jalapenos are often paired, my uneasiness regarding their pairing here seems founded.  Why?  Because ketchup tends to trounce whatever flavor to which it's applied.  Its sugary presence leaves no room for nuanced flavors, and I would generally call jalapeño as "nuanced".

As it hits the tongue, the condiment tastes as it usually does, with perhaps the slightest spicy entry along with a more savory debut than the average.  The middle of the experience seems run-of-the-mill, as the sugar of the ketchup mostly cancels out whatever spiciness may have been present on the actual taste buds.  After the swallow, however, the spice returns and burns the throat, and not in an unpleasant way.  Overall, almost no flavor of the actual jalapeño is present.

In the end, it offers and interesting and different way to experience ketchup (and however it is applied to your favorite food), but not quite enough to elevate it.  I welcome more forays such as this from Heinz.


Heinz Tomato Ketcup Real Jalapeño:- Good
Original Heinz Tomato Ketcup(for comparison):- Good