Ode to That Good Ol' 57

As my faithful Fry Kids already know, I rate bar fries on a scale of 1 to 57 (thanks to @JamieWarner for the idea). I’m sure you all are just dying to know why I’ve chosen this obnoxious number. Well, 57 is the number you will find on every bottle of Heinz Ketchup. My choice is fitting since ketchup is the perfect companion to the French Fry and, of course, any friend of the French Fry is a friend of mine.
Ketchup aka “Good Ol’ 57” is perfect because it satisfies all five tastes of your precious palate. That’s right FIVE. It is salty. It is bitter. It is sweet. It is sour. And the ripe tomatoes used to make it gives it the fifth taste umami which is the full-bodied taste that “turns a soup from salt water into a food.” This quote says it best:

“The taste of Heinz ketchup began at the tip of the tongue, where our receptors for sweet and salty first appear, moved along the sides, where sour notes seem the strongest, then hit the back of the tongue, for umami and bitter, in one long crescendo.”

That’s music to my tongue…

Read the full article The Ketchup Conundrum by Malcolm Gladwell