Ketchup is the world’s most used condiment, only second to mayonnaise. On January 22, the middle school participated in a middle school-wide ketchup taste test. The taste test compared Heinz, M&S, and 3663 Bidvest which is the school ketchup.
In the taste test, an orange, brown, and red cup were placed at each table in the Commons during lunch. The students were not aware of which ketchup was which, so they were able to make their decisions based only on what they were tasting. Each ketchup brand was in the same colored cup at each table. M&S ketchup was in the red cups, Heinz was in the orange cups, and 3663 Bidvest, the school ketchup, was in the brown cups.
Students were asked which ketchup they preferred the most, and their answers were tallied accordingly. The final result of the taste test had Heinz with 113 votes, 3663 Bidvest with 79 votes and M&S with 51. Even though Heinz won, the amount of votes for the school was very close to votes for Heinz, and it even out-matched M&S. Eighth grader Tanner Hatzmann said he preferred the school ketchup because “I’ve been quite used to it because over the past few years, it’s the one that we’ve had.” Hatzman was actually able to identify the ketchup based only on taste. He said that the ketchup that he has the most is actually the school’s ketchup, so he has gotten the most used to that ketchup. This may be one of the reasons why the school ketchup scored so high.
Or it could just be the taste. Sixth grader Zein Blanks said the school ketchup “wasn’t too sweet or too tomatoey.” Blanks usually has Heinz at home, but she she thought all ketchups tasted the same before, so she never paid attention to the way it tasted. She actually thought she was tasting Heinz ketchup when she was tasting the school ketchup.
Eighth grader Smayan Bhavnani Thadani, who chose Heinz, said the school ketchup had too much flavor. He said that Heinz was just sweet enough, but he didn’t like the school ketchup at all. He said that he liked M&S, but it wasn’t sweet enough for him.
Even though Heinz ketchup did get the most votes, the school ketchup did perform very well.
