Product Review: Agave-nectar Sweetened Krazy Ketchup

From May 2009 photos

It seems I have become the unofficial taste tester for agave nectar sweetened ketchups. It's not a bad gig. It just means I have to keep ketchup-worthy items in the fridge or freezer. Or, I could surreptitiously carry a sample-sized container of the stuff with me to the diner down the street and order a plate of fries to try with it. Oh yeah, and try not to attract attention as I pull my camera out of my purse to shoot photos of the fries and said ketchup. Hmmmm.

The star of this post isn't your typical tomato-paste, sweetener, and spices ketchup. Check out the ingredients:

Organic tomato puree (organic tomato paste, water, salt), organic agave nectar, organic butternut squash puree, organic carrot puree, organic sweet potato puree, organic spices, and citric acid.

I love that Laila and Erin, the founders of Krazy Ketchup used all organic squash, sweet potato, and carrot puree in their ketchup. It's really tasty stuff. I hope the stores start carrying it around here because it presents a fun way to get your kids to eat vegetables they might otherwise scoff at on their plates.

From May 2009 photos

Speaking of plates, as in all my ketchup taste tests, I'm using a tater-tot-like potato product to keep all the comparisons apple to apple. However, this time, I added a little horseradish to the ketchup in a separate, tiny ramekin to see if it would make a good spicy dip. In fact, the Krazy Ketchup does make a very good spicy dip/cocktail sauce. I can't wait to try this on other foods. I'd bet it would make an awesome barbeque sauce with some help from a few other choice ingredients.

From May 2009 photos

The texture is thick, but not pasty. It's a little on the sweet side, with notes of the squash and sweet potato. But you really have to be looking for it to determine exactly what the flavor is. Overall, I'd say this is very close to my favorite (Wholemato), but since it's targeted to kids, I can understand why it's a bit on the sweet side.

On the other hand, I'm sure that I've become sensitized to sweet foods because I've minimized my intake of sugars so much since I started using agave nectar a few years ago. But, you should decide for yourself. Try Krazy Ketchup and let me know what you think.