Ketchup?

[dr. mabuse]

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[Dozer523]

My Reason For Living (who sells food for a living with one of the largest food service Companies in the world) says that it isn't the recipe gone bad. It's that tomatoes were especially crappy this year. Her company was actually forced to buy tomatoes from
(wait for it; no sh!t)
Canada! Aye!

[Peregrino]

Another equally plausible reason for the apparent decline in the quality of your condiments is jaded taste buds (or faulty memories of "how good it used to be"). Kick it up a notch with some horseradish. Do you have a cold? Most of taste is actually smell. (Something else the horseradish will cure! ) Lots of supporting characters in your cast of reasons.

[ZonieDiver]

Originally Posted by Dozer523

My Reason For Living (who sells food for a living with one of the largest food service Companies in the world) says that it isn't the recipe gone bad. It's that tomatoes were especially crappy this year. Her company was actually forced to buy tomatoes from
(wait for it; no sh!t)
Canada! Aye!

I haven't seen a "real" tomato outside of a farmer's market or my own garden in 20+ years. I am not sure what those "red things" in the grocery store produce section are, but they ain't tomatoes! (Yes, Dan Quayle was right... there is an E in tomatoes and potatoes! )

[Pete]

A thread on Ketchup and nobody mentioned Mushroom Ketchup?

A new twist for a meat dish.

Had it once and liked it but might be a little involved to make a batch.

[LarryW]

I haven't seen a "real" tomato outside of a farmer's market or my own garden in 20+ years. I am not sure what those "red things" in the grocery store produce section are, but they ain't tomatoes!

If you could cut one of them open you'd probably find a bone. Then again, if you could cut one at all you could use it for gasket material.

[Team Sergeant]

Dr. math to the rescue!!!!!


Converting Ounces to Ounces
Date: 06/03/2002 at 03:36:35
From: Jessica
Subject: weight of mass and liquid?

I know this should be easy to figure out, but my roommate and I are having a small debate on weight. I am a cocktail waitress here in Vegas and was trying to figure out the total weight of my tray if, say, a mug of beer weighs 25oz.

I figured an ounce is an ounce like when they say "what weighs more, a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers? - neither, a ton is a ton."

However my roommate started to convince me that liquid is weighed differently, which I understand, but how is it converted? I'm sorry the question is so elementary, I have taken science and math classes, but never did grasp any of it.


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Date: 06/03/2002 at 09:14:26
From: Doctor Rick
Subject: Re: weight of mass and liquid?

Hi, Jessica.

I think the source of confusion here is that there are two different units called an "ounce". (Actually, there are more than that, but two are in common use today.) There is the ounce of weight, technically called the avoirdupois ounce, and the ounce of volume or capacity, called the fluid ounce.

When you say a mug of beer "weighs 25 oz.", you are probably
referring to the volume of beer, not its weight. I don't have any beer around, but a can of soda is labeled "12 fl. oz.", meaning the soda in the can has a volume of 12 fluid ounces -- not a weight of 12 avoirdupois ounces.

To "convert" volume (in fluid ounces) to weight (in avoirdupois ounces), we need to know the density of beer -- the weight of a unit volume of beer.

The density of water is close to 1 av. oz. per fl. oz., but not quite. A gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds. There are 128 fl. oz. in a gallon and 16 av. oz. in a pound, so 128 fl. oz. of water weigh 8.34 * 16 av. oz. and therefore 1 fl. oz. of water weighs 8.34 * 16 / 128 av. oz.

= 1.0425 av. oz.

Thus 25 fl. oz. of water weigh 25 * 1.0425 av. oz. = 26.0625 av. oz. The density of beer will be close to that of water, but we can't say exactly what it is. Here is a web site that lists several measurements of the density of beers:

Density of Beer: The Physics Factbook, edited by Glenn Elert
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/BlairElefant.shtml

It indicates that the density of beer is something like 5% greater than the density of water (1 g/cm). Thus 25 fl. oz. of beer will weigh closer to 27.4 av. oz.

Don't forget that this doesn't include the weight of the empty mug!

- Doctor Rick, The Math Forum
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/

[Red Flag 1]

Thanks TS!!

Finally, a beer specs calculator!!!!

RF 1

[Dozer523]

Aparantly Dr. Math failed to notice the question came from a "a cocktail waitress here in Vegas" who had "taken science and math classes, but never did grasp any of it."
He was probably just excited he was going to get to say . . . "convert" volume (in fluid ounces) to weight (in avoirdupois ounces), we need to . . . "
(Ohhhhhhhh doctor, that sounds dirty! are you realllllly a doctor?") Hope he got a phone number or something before her head exploded.

[nmap]

Originally Posted by Dozer523

My Reason For Living (who sells food for a living with one of the largest food service Companies in the world) says that it isn't the recipe gone bad. It's that tomatoes were especially crappy this year. Her company was actually forced to buy tomatoes from
(wait for it; no sh!t)
Canada! Aye!

That's an interesting possibility. Thank you!

Originally Posted by Peregrino

Another equally plausible reason for the apparent decline in the quality of your condiments is jaded taste buds (or faulty memories of "how good it used to be"). Kick it up a notch with some horseradish. Do you have a cold? Most of taste is actually smell. (Something else the horseradish will cure! ) Lots of supporting characters in your cast of reasons.

The faulty memories are a possibility - I find that more problematic each year.

But I first noticed the issue during the transition from glass bottles to plastic squeeze bottles. The ketchup just seems different - different thickness, different appearance, different taste. The change is subtle, but seems real.

I like your idea of adding some horseradish - but for decongestion, I find a few minutes in a steam room are even better. Mountain cedar used to cause some allergies to kick in, but 3 steam room sessions per week has eliminated the problem. It is a very pleasant cure!

[dr. mabuse]

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[nmap]

Originally Posted by dr. mabuse

Got to be related to the transition from cane sugar to high fructose corn syrup in everything.

I wouldn't be surprised.

In San Antonio, we can sometimes obtain Coca Cola produced in Mexico. They use pure cane sugar, in contrast to the corn syrup used here. The taste is remarkably better.

[dr. mabuse]

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[nmap]

It seems I have found my answer. The problem is high fructose corn syrup.

HEB - a regional supermarket - has started putting out some products under their own label. Their ketchup used cane sugar and no corn syrup. The taste was far, far better.

So, read the labels and avoid the corn syrup. Ketchup can taste good again!