16 May 2012

Hot Tomato Ketchup – Sea Isle (Tesco) [By @SpectreUK]



I’ve been hunting high and low for a replacement for Grace’s Hot Tomato Ketchup, as I seem to have located a bottle previously by complete fluke. If you have read the blog, you’ll know that I could not recall where I bought the sauce. I was so taken by Grace’s Hot Tomato Ketchup that Cinabar contacted the manufacturer to find out where it is sold in this country. “No where!” Graces proclaimed, as it is apparently not sold in the United Kingdom. I beg to differ, as I bought a bottle from somewhere, I just can’t remember where!

Anyway, as I was walking around the local supermarket I found this bottle of Hot Tomato Ketchup by Sea Isle. I thought I’d give it a try, as Grace’s Hot Tomato Ketchup obviously isn’t sold in this country (it is really… I just can’t remember where and the manufacturer hasn’t a clue either). The label on the Sea Isle 490g plastic bottle proudly stated; “Quality Caribbean food since 1965”, that said and with nearly fifty years experience, Sea Isle must know what they’re doing, mustn’t they? On the back of the bottle I noticed that this sauce is produced in Wednesbury, near Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. Not very Caribbean there, as I don’t live too far away, but at least this sauce should be sold in this country! The ingredients included; tomato, chilli, onion, salt, cane vinegar, garlic, and paprika. I tried this sauce on a few obligatory chip butties, and then dunked the remainder of my chips. On tasting I first noticed its saltiness, followed by a hot chilli burn on the tongue, with tomato somewhere in the background. This sauce was definitely more salty, giving an uncomfortable burn on the tongue, rather than concentrating on the tomato flavour. Grace’s was the opposite, having a warm chilli heat in the mouth, but with a full tomato flavour. I would say this Hot Tomato Ketchup is good enough for a replacement of Grace’s for now. Although I’ll keep searching for that perfect hot tomato ketchup I now seem obsessed to find, especially if Grace’s Hot Tomato Ketchup absolutely positively isn’t available in this country. It is really… honest! I just can’t remember where…
By Spectre

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Asda stock the Grace brand according to mysupermarket.co.uk

Anonymous said...

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/#/asda-compare-prices/condiments/grace_hot_tomato_ketchup_385g.html

Anonymous said...

I found this site for you- as it's on sale you may want to stock up :)

http://www.easycaribbeanshop.com/index.php/caribbean-food-uk/food-brand/grace-west-indies/grace-hot-tomato-ketchup.html

Anonymous said...

I saw Grace Hot Ketchup in my local Co-op at the weekend...