5 Life-Changing Hacks To Get Ketchup Out Of Glass Bottles
Ketchup has got to be one of the most loved condiments out of them all. It's versatile — you can use it as a topping, a sauce, an ingredient, or a meal-saver when your dish comes out a bit flavorless — and it's got that something extra, that umami, that missing element that completes your dish with the perfect balance of sweet, sour, tangy, and bitter. Plus, it's inexpensive and comes in a variety of containers, from plastic squeeze bottles to the more traditional glass bottle.
Now, about that glass bottle — hands up, who has tipped that bottle over and no ketchup comes out for what feels like an age, but then, suddenly, the whole bottle seems to come out and you've got ketchup with a side of fries? Our hands are definitely up. Luckily, the team at Tasting Table doesn't take these challenges lying down, so we've rooted out some brilliant hacks to help you get that ketchup out of the glass bottle smoothly, in the portions that you need, and without having to scrape half a bottle of ketchup off your plate to find your hotdog buried underneath.
Run the bottle under hot water
One of many things you need to know about ketchup is that it's a non-Newtonian fluid, meaning it has many different viscosities (or thicknesses) of particles in one bottle. This is called the molecular matrix, which sees different particle sets in your ketchup bottle — tomato components, sugar, water, vinegar, and salt – clustering together in various ways. Water is the thinnest, so this is why you'll sometimes find a watery layer (called ketchup juice) at the top or bottom of your bottle, especially when you open it after it's sat for a while.
These viscosities can change with external forces – such as hot water. The consistent heat applied to the bottle interacts with the highly viscous particles and causes them to thin out, loosening them from their clusters. A quick shake of the bottle then mixes the different components up, and your ketchup flows with ease. Be careful not to hold your bottle under the hot water for too long, though. Naturally, the more heat that is applied, the thinner your ketchup gets, and you don't want a watery sauce over your lovely crispy fries.
Spin the bottle
To easily dispense ketchup, spin the bottle. And no, we aren't referring to the game, but rather using some impressive spinning action of your arm to encourage the clustered ketchup particles to let go of their mates and mix it up, so your ketchup flows out more easily. Start by warming up your shoulder muscles. After all, telling your office colleagues that you got a shoulder injury by swinging your ketchup bottle around isn't the coolest story.
Then, with the lid of your ketchup bottle tightly closed, hold the neck of the bottle securely and proceed to swing it vigorously around in a full circle a few times. This uses centrifugal force to help you extract the ketchup, and is the scientific secret to getting the last bit of sauce out of its bottle. After that, enjoy the easy flow. Again, this comes down to the non-Newtonian state of the ketchup, where force metaphorically knocks some sense into the clustered particles, causing them to mingle and form a more uniform viscosity.
Another thing you can do is to first give the bottle a good shake, which helps to overcome the stress yield (according to University of Melbourne physicist Anthony Stickland, who tried it out). Then, flip the bottle upside down and give it another shake to get the ketchup into the neck of the bottle. Finally, tilt the bottle to a 45-degree angle, ease off the lid, and let your delicious ketchup ooze out. Gently tap the bottom of the bottle if needed.
Use a good old butter knife
One of the most popular ways to encourage ketchup to leave the bottle is to insert a flat-edged butter knife through the top of the bottle and gently scrape the clingy ketchup from the sides. This simultaneously breaks the partial vacuum within the bottle and gives the different components of ketchup a good mix, bringing it to a more uniform consistency and making it easier to pour out. While you have the knife in there, you can even use it to help scoop ketchup out of the bottle.
This is great if you want to spread it on, say, an English muffin topped with a fried egg and bacon — aka an ultimate egg sandwich with ketchup in place of Sriracha. A butter knife isn't all that long, though, so generally won't reach past the top third of your bottle. If your ketchup is still being a bit naughty, get in there with a chopstick and scrape the sides down all the way to the bottom. Give it a good mix, remove the chopstick, and you're ready to go.
Use Heinz's little secret
Have you ever looked closely at your standard Heinz glass ketchup bottle? On the neck, you'll see a little raised number 57 in the glass. This isn't there for aesthetic purposes, to remind you of the number of the bottled products in the array of Heinz offerings, or as a talisman that your next meal using ketchup is going to make your guests swoon and celebrate your cooking prowess. The original reason for the 57 came from the founder emblazoning the number on bottles for decades as an advertising slogan that started in 1896. It combined his lucky number, five, and his wife's favorite number, seven, which then became the brand's slogan: "57 varieties" (though Heinz made more than 60 different products at the time).
But the Heinz brand shared in an article on Mirror Online that tapping this number 57 on the neck of the bottle (right where it begins to widen) a couple of times exerts the ideal amount of pressure to shake up those molecules and release the sweet umami nectar of the ketchup at a more manageable rate than if you thumped the bottom of the bottle. And, of course, this trick isn't just for Heinz ketchup. It will work for any glass ketchup bottle with a tapered neck. Pretty cool, right? You can also avoid the issue altogether by snagging a plastic squeeze bottle of Heinz ketchup on Amazon.
Stick a straw in the bottle
If you're not a frequenter of Chinese takeaways and don't have a chopstick around, you can also use a standard straw to free up your stubborn ketchup. Insert the straw into the ketchup bottle, give the bottle a bit of a shake, and then leave the straw inside while you pour the ketchup. Not only does this mix up the different components like the chopstick or knife does, but the hollow straw breaks the partial vacuum within the bottle by allowing air to flow into the bottle. And the science behind this is intriguing.
As the straw moves through the ketchup, it allows air from the higher pressure area outside to naturally move into the lower pressure area within the bottle. This, combined with the physical mixing, breaks the partial vacuum within the bottle, allowing the ketchup to flow more freely. Now that you've learned how to get this tasty red sauce out of its container, you can experiment with these 14 additions to boost the flavor of store-bought ketchup, peruse our ranking of 13 popular store-bought ketchup brands, or try making your own using this simple homemade ketchup recipe.