Tomatoes, tomatoes - and more tomatoes

The Secret to Stokes Tomato Ketchup
... tomatoes

In his own words, Rick (Stokes' founder, MD and Ketchup aficionado) tells us the story of Award-Winning Tomato Ketchup.

"I liked Ketchup so much that, similar to a smoker (but I'm not) who would not go out with only two cigarettes left, I would panic unless I had at least two bottles of Ketchup in my house. 

I didn’t have it on my cereal but most other things. I like Ketchup - a lot!  

In my late forties, bachelorhood was taken from me by my dear Annie and in due course, we had a little girl. Like many little ones, she would not eat her greens! 

This was a problem. How would I get her to eat her ‘Greens’? That Eureka moment - Tomato Ketchup, but there was a problem - she didn’t like that either. But I was not going to accept that.

I had been vaguely thinking about trying to make a ketchup - with more tomato and cleaner, more delicious ingredients - the Stokes Ketchup version of our first product - Mayonnaise.

Whilst still toying with this idea, I was asked out to lunch and was taken to a very posh restaurant in London. I ordered salad with chicken - oh, and some chips and further more had the audacity to ask for some Ketchup. 

It was not unusual to witness the waiter's eyes roll with a polite look of scorn - but this time - not so. To the contrary - he arrived with a salver, upon which sat a mini ladle and a bowl full to the brim with the most delicious Tomato Ketchup I had ever tasted. It knocked the spots off the brand I had in my (as for so many other) larder.

My mind was made up. Stokes would make a Tomato Ketchup just like this one. With my friend and colleague - Peter, a master of so many talents (not least food product development), we set about our massive task. 

Tomatoes originally came from Paraguay - so that seemed a good place to start - we tried tomatoes from everywhere, all over the world. But we found the best tasting tomatoes came from Italy - a bit more expensive for sure - but our mantra is always to be “Best in Class”. 

So, Italian it was. 

Experimenting over and over,  we developed our own unique spice mix. We tried all of our competitors products and kept going until we finally got it - the taste, the colour, the smell, the texture - and oh, did I mention that taste. 

We knew we were on to a winner. 

But there is only one Stokes Ketchup - still made to exactly the same recipe, using those same Italian tomatoes wrapped and ripened in the richly warm Mediterranean sunshine. 

And we use more than anyone else, simmering 200g into every 100g of ketchup. There are now six variants to discover. 

Our original Ketchup now out-sells all our other products and demand is still growing, as more people try it and convert to 'quality'.

And all this because a little girl wouldn’t eat her greens."

Thank you Rick.

Shake it, squeeze it, love it

 Order your 'Great Ketchup' hit - here

More foodie thoughts for the week:

Savoury Galettes - 
to Normandy, for a foolproof Galette recipe and wonderful fillings - here.







The Humble Pea - 
celebrating National Pea Week with delicious Pea & Broad Bean recipes - here.



 


Video Fun - 
free range grilling, high seas dining and other sharing fun - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150