Does ketchup need to be refrigerated?

[EllenFrasier]

I've been to plenty of places where they have the big jugs or ketchup with the pump on it, and it's not refrigerated. Same with restaurants like Friendly's, etc. - I don't think they go around and collect the ketchup bottles, but I could be wrong.
Do you refrigerate your ketchup at home?

 

[abcboys]

We do but I don't believe you have to.

 

[sherry7]

I do refrigerate mine at home, but only because we go through it so slowly. I don't think it actually needs to be refrigerated though.

On another note, I recently discovered that real butter (the salted variety) can be left sitting on the counter for a few days will no ill effects. I've been enjoying nice soft butter since I found that out.

 

[nin8jc]

you do not need to refrigerate ketchup. we do not - chilled ketchup tastes different than at room temp

 

[mydisneyobsession]

On another note, I recently discovered that real butter (the salted variety) can be left sitting on the counter for a few days will no ill effects. I've been enjoying nice soft butter since I found that out.

We do the same with our butter. I hate making toast when I can't spread the butter!

 

[angierae]

I've been to plenty of places where they have the big jugs or ketchup with the pump on it, and it's not refrigerated. Same with restaurants like Friendly's, etc. - I don't think they go around and collect the ketchup bottles, but I could be wrong.
Do you refrigerate your ketchup at home?

I do, and restaurants refrigerate them overnight. Also, restaurants go through ketchup MUCH faster than we do at home.

 

[disneymarie]

It has vinegar in it, that is a stabilizer, prevent the bacteria. I think also that mustard is kept out for best taste.
Be careful of the butter left out in the summer or you will be using it for popcorn topping when it melts.

Also, when making fresh salads for parties, potato, macaroni, coleslaw, the adding of vinegar mixed with the mayo has ability to protect from sitting in the warm weather worries. Not forever, but for the meal plus a bit of time.

I use a equal part sugar to vinegar, add the mayo....maybe just a bit more sugar to sweeten from the tartness.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

I've worked at 4 different restaurants...none of them refrigerate ketchup. They consolidate the bottles each night. And if the ketchup starts to have small bubbles on the sides of the bottles then it's going bad and needs to be tossed. But it usually takes a looong time to get to that point!

 

[honeydiane1953]

I do because of the high sugar content in ketchup.

 

[mrodgers]

Restaurants also use Heinz bottles, but fill them with inferior brand bulk ketchup. I worked for Heinz and worked with ketchup for quite a while and it is definitely not Heinz ketchup in any restaurant I've been in.

 

[dawson5]

Restaurants also use Heinz bottles, but fill them with inferior brand bulk ketchup. I worked for Heinz and worked with ketchup for quite a while and it is definitely not Heinz ketchup in any restaurant I've been in.

I know when I worked at DQ, if someone said "can I have a Coke?" and you had Pepsi, you had to correct them that you served Pepsi products. I know when we go out now, my kids will ask for a Coke and they are corrected on the product that is served. This is at all restaurants, not a few. I would think the same could be said of the ketchup, it would be misleading and I would guess be something a company could and would sue over if the bottles were filled with Hunts or Del Monte instead of Heinz. I wonder if it comes down to the bag vs bottle though. I know that a fountain Pepsi/Coke tastes entirely different from a canned and/or bottled Pepsi/Coke. (For the record, every restaurant I've worked in has used Heinz. We dealt with both the bagged and the bottled. I do notice that ketchup has changed over the years though. I find that I prefer the "simply" one best. Hubby prefers his salt free version.)


OP we refrigerate our ketchup at home. We don't use it often enough to leave it set out.

Jenny-momof3 Thanks for the tip on the bubbles on the side of the bottle. I never knew that. Even when I worked where they had the bottles setting out (we never refrigerated them), we went through them so fast that we never paid attention to them.

As for the butter, if you ever worry about it, invest in a butter keeper. You put the butter in the top and it goes upside down into water. It keeps it soft but just chilled enough to keep it from going sour and/or separating. We usually keep some out, toast is impossible without soft butter, but I've had issues where it separates in the summer.

 

[dougsmom98]

My parents never refrigerated ketchup when we were kids. I looked on the side of the bottle and says to refrigerate after opening so I do. Now, I am grossed out when I got to my parents and I don't want to use their condiments. I have worked at many restaurants and we would refill the bottles and then put them in the fridge over night. I'm not as worried about the actual ketchup going bad, but when you have a "community" bottle of ketchup that everyone uses, you don't know for sure if someone accidentally touched the ketchup on the food they are using it on and transferred food/bacteria to the bottle. Bacteria growth is accelerated at room temperature.

 

[Suz725]

some bottles actually say REFRIGERATE AFTER OPENING. I think it depends on the brand

 

[kimara]

We definitely refrigerate because all our bottles say you should. Ketchup bottles at restaurants make me squirm a bit if I think about them when eating out, so I avoid Ketchup there when I can.

 

[trip]

you do not need to refrigerate ketchup. we do not - chilled ketchup tastes different than at room temp

This. Plus I just don't like cold ketchup on hot food.

 

[Colleen27]

We do refrigerate ours, more for lack of counter space than out of any notion that it is necessary. Like a previous poster we do leave our butter out, though; I have a pretty cut glass butter dish and it is so nice having nice, soft REAL butter.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

All of the restaurants I worked in definitely refilled them with Heinz ketchup. A generic substitute was never used.

 

[Debbie]

We just had that discussion about pickles. The jar says refrigerate after opening, and yet in the old days-no, the REALLY old days of the General Store-the pickle barrel was a staple. And no refrigeration.

 

[Dismom55]

We used to keep the ketchup in the fridge, then we allowed a young lady to move in with us, she puts it on everything, so it does not stay around long enough to spoil, so no longer gets put in the fridge and no one has gotten sick.

About the real butter, we have a 3 piece butter dish that you put cold water in the bottom, then it has a seperate section for the butter, then the lid, this keeps the butter cold enough to not spoil, yet spreadable and it does not melt on warmer days.

By the way have another dish for our chunk cheese, you run tap water over inside of the lid, the unglazed ceramic absorbs the cool water and keeps the cheese from getting rancid, yet is perfect eating temp. The outside is glazed and the cheese plate is glazed, just the inside of the lid is not.

Just thought I would share.

 

[Evi]

Ketchup should be refrigerated if not it does grow bacteria. There was a show that did testing on this I'm sure if you google it you can find it. They also say it should be thrown out within 3 months of opening it.