DOST Helps Improve Production Standards for Banana Ketchup

Wednesday, September 11, 2013 07:46 AM Views : 2034by:ITDI-DOST

Bicutan, Taguig City, September 9, 2013. In the last few months, food researchers at DOST-ITDI (Department of
Science and Technology –Industrial Technology Development Institute) has been revisiting processing methods for
local favorite foods and one of them is banana sauce or catsup/ketchup, so that this time, processing standards for
this all-time favorite condimentare now in place. Following the improved standard for processing and packaging done
by DOST-ITDI experts, production can now be done the safer way.

With this development, its safe consumption is guaranteed.

This favorite dip is perfectly matched with fried foods and snacks, e.g., chicken/fish, French fries or chips, and also a
popular salad dressing on its own, or in combination with other
sauces or dips. So dig in and enjoy, worry free.

Ms. Teresita S. Palomares, Supervising Science Research Specialist of the Food Processing Division (FPD) of the
ITDI – DOST said that in the process of trying to improve the local banana ketchup, "our team collected commercial
brands of bananaketchup and then did physico-chemical analysis on the essential composition and factors affecting
the quality of the products to determine what needs to be improved".

Of the features or characteristics of the product that were studied, "we found that titratable acidity does not have a
significant impact on the quality and safety of the product. Instead, we paid attention on other features that would
readily affect the quality of the banana ketchup such as its consistency or viscosity where synerisis can occur", she
added.

Synerisis occurs when moisture separates from the structural matrix (or body mass) of the product due to heat
exposure, rendering its consistency to become watery. This watery consistency dilutes the flavor of the product,
resulting to poor quality and/or spoilage, directly affecting its safety. Then, the products are no longer fit for
consumption and selling.

The research team also recommended some modifications for the product packaging and labeling based on
guidelines set by the Food and Drug Administration or FDA to include product identity and specification of its
contents. As revised, the name of the product will now be confined to "Banana Ketchup".

During the development of the standard, people from the academe, R&D staff of banana ketchup manufacturers, and
some representatives from the FDA collaborated and worked on a series of technical revisions and public
consultations to come up with the improved /revised standard. The draft standard now awaits the final approval of the
FDA. (Delia Delica-Gotis with reports from CCortado)
Source: http://www.itdi.dost.gov.ph/images/stories/docs/flashreport/banana%20ketchup%20pr_sept%209%202013.p
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Banana Ketchup: The Philippines’

Answer To A Lack Of Tomatoes
Banana Ketchup: The Philippines’
Answer To A Lack Of
TomatoesCondiment of the Week:
Filipino Banana Ketchup
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Tiffany DoSeptember 2, 2015

A staple in Filipino cuisine, bananas replace tomatoes in this sweet sauce. (Photos: Tiffany Do.)

Ketchup, traditional partner in crime for fries, hot dogs, meatloaf, eggs and more, has long been
a staple on the counters of diners and burger joints. In Filipino cuisine, however, there’s a
popular thick red sauce that also goes by the name ketchup. This much sweeter, less tangy red
sauce is banana-based, with food coloring providing its ketchup-y hue. Banana ketchup also
offers a contrast to the salty foods it’s served with, like chicken wings and fried foods.

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Nicole Ponseca, owner of Maharlika, a modern Filipino restaurant in New York City, describes the
origins of banana ketchup as a topic of folklore. “We always say when the U.S. came to the Philippines,
they introduced us to canned goods, condiments, ketchup. We didn’t have a plethora of tomatoes, but
what we did have was a lot of bananas, so it became de facto ketchup,” Ponseca says. “Do I think that it
completely originated from tomato ketchup? No. I think we probably had something called banana
sauce.”

Tomato or banana? You could have fooled us.

According to Ponseca, Jufran, a popular brand of the sweet, tomato-less ketchup, isn’t even
advertised as a ketchup, but rather “banana sauce.” Despite this, the condiment is popularly
known as banana ketchup. Ponseca suggests this is partially due to the longstanding connection
that many Filipinos feel to the U.S. “And we also have this cultural ambassador thing where we
always try to relate things to other people,” she notes.

Philadelphia chef Lou Boquila makes his own version of banana ketchup with tomato paste at his
pop-up restaurant Pelago and has served it with a fried version of tortang talong, an eggplant
omelet from his childhood. Boquila says the omelet evokes his childhood method of making the
dish more appealing.

“Growing up, as a kid, I didn’t like vegetables,” Boquila says. “You put some banana ketchup on
it and it sort of masks the flavors. It’s just like eating a [regular] omelet.”

Ponseca also has fond memories of banana ketchup accompanying childhood breakfasts of Spam
silog, a traditional Filipino dish of garlic rice, fried egg and fried Spam.

Maharlika’s longsilog: garlic rice topped with a fried egg, served with sweet garlic pork sausage and
relish.

“Banana ketchup is always good on rice,” she says. “From observing what the guests do and
from my own experience, people really like to incorporate it into the rice.”
At brunch, bottles of Jufran banana ketchup sit on Maharlika’s tables to accompany the various
silogs on the menu.

Ponseca tells us that banana ketchup isn’t traditionally incorporated into meals as an ingredient,
other than in Filipino spaghetti: spaghetti, banana ketchup and cut-up hot dogs. Maharlika chef
Miguel Trinidad also works the ketchup into the restaurant’s barbecued ribs and a sweet and sour
dipping sauce. Maharlika’s sister restaurant, Jeepney, serves up a homemade spicy banana
ketchup (recipe below).

Ponseca says she sees banana ketchup as a “kitschy” condiment that pulls on the strings of
nostalgia for many Filipinos but is also a great introduction to people not familiar with the
cuisine.

“When you see people like the desserts at Milk Bar and they use cereal milk or people use cereal
in their desserts, it isn’t so much that they love Twinkies or that they love cornflakes. It’s more
that they love the feeling of what they had when they were a kid. I think that’s what banana
ketchup really does,” she says. “If you’re getting to know Filipino food, banana ketchup is a
great introduction to the beginning of a world of flavor.”