Product Review: Heinz One Carb Ketchup

Switching to a low carb way of eating means giving up certain things. I was more than happy to give up bread, pasta, and rice in favor of cheese, cream, and butter, but lately I have really missed ketchup. I have always liked ketchup, but after reading the label on the bottle of Heinz I had in the refrigerator, I knew I was going to have to learn to go without. It contained both corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup . That adds up to 30 carbs for a mere 2 tablespoons...an amount I can easily put on a bunless, lettuce-wrapped burger without even blinking. Since I am trying to stay below 60 carbs/day, that itty bit of ketchup can easily blow half of my carb allotment.

So I gave up the ketchup, resorting to jealous glaring as my son put generous amounts on his burgers, or hubby dipped his bratwurst in to a big pile of the delicious red goo. I spent many shopping trips standing in front of the ketchup isle reading labels to see if, by some slim chance, there was some obscure brand out there not loaded with sugars. Imagine my joy the other day at finding several bottles of HEINZ ONE CARB, REDUCED SUGAR KETCHUP at the local Walmart! I was tempted to grab all of them, but I settled on two 14oz bottles. I had a bit of doubt about how it would taste. Low carb AND good tasting just seemed like too much to ask for!

When I got home, I grilled up a batch of all beef burgers, salivating at the though of finally being able to eat a burger with ketchup again. I opened the bottle as the burgers cooked and gave it a sniff. It SMELLED like real ketchup. I flipped the burgers and then squeezed some ketchup on the plate. It LOOKED like real ketchup. I took the finished burgers off the grill and put one on my plate. I used my fork to break off a piece, then got ready to dip. I gave the meat a heavy ketchup coating and took a bite. YEAH! It TASTES LIKE REAL KETCHUP!!! If anything, it was a touch sweeter than I remembered, but I have been off the stuff for a while, so maybe it was just me.

I am happy to say that I no longer have to go without my favorite condiment and highly recommend this low carb ketchup version. The price was annoying, being double that of the regular ketchups, but I do think it is worth the extra expense. Check the ketchup isle at your local stores, or there are places, like Netrition.com that have it online.

Ratings (out of 5 stars)
Flavor: *****
Value: ***