St. Lucia and Banana Ketchup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What do Filipinos eat banana ketchup with? ›

In Filipino households, this condiment is used on many dishes: Filipino spaghetti, omelettes (torta), hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, fish, charcoal-grilled pork barbecue, chicken skewers, fried chicken, and other meats.

The exact origins of banana ketchup are unknown, but it's popularly said to have originated in World War II, when American soldiers brought tomato ketchup to the Philippines. Since tomatoes were hard to find at the time but bananas were plentiful, Filipino locals adapted it to a banana version.

Banana ketchup (or catsup) is made with puréed banana and seasoned with salt, sugar, garlic, onions, and spices. The sweet, savory, and tangy condiment often includes red artificial food coloring so it resembles tomato ketchup.

Filipino style, delicious ketchup sauce made with banana. Used as a cooking ingredient or dipping sauce. Ingredients: water, sugar, banana, modified starch (corn), vinegar, iodized salt (salt, potassium iodate), onion, chilli, garlic, sodium benzoate e211, colour e102, e129.

The flavor profile of the sauce, sweetish with a hint of spice and just a tad acidic, highly appeals to locals, sometimes even more than its tomato counterpart. This further proves just how much Filipinos love bananas, a key agricultural commodity of the country.

It's said that while in Japan, the general enjoyed spaghetti Neapolitan, a Japanese-style dish that uses ketchup as the base for the sauce. Upon relocating to the Philippines, the general continued to crave the sweet spaghetti, and his staff recreated it with the banana ketchup that, by then, was commonly available.

UFC is one of the many brands of banana ketchup readily available in the U.S.

This is sweetened with a bit of banana ketchup or brown sugar, and spiced to taste with salt and black pepper. Other common sweeteners include condensed milk, syrup, or even carbonated soft drinks. It is boiled until it reduces to the right consistency.

Banana ketchup and banana sauce are different names for the same condiment. This yellow-brown or red sauce is most often called banana ketchup. However, one of the popular brands which sells this condiment (Jufran) uses banana sauce on its labels.

Jolly Spaghetti

It's because the sauce is made with banana ketchup. Yes, you read that correctly. Tomatoes aren't common in Southeast Asia, but bananas are everywhere, so Jollibee uses bananas, sugar, salt, and food dye to create its pasta sauce.

Which is healthier banana or tomato ketchup? ›

Banana ketchup is a healthier alternative to traditional tomato ketchup. It has fewer calories and less sugar, as well as more vitamins and minerals. Bananas are a good source of dietary fiber, which can help lower cholesterol and promote digestive health.

Keep banana ketchup as you would any ketchup. It's shelf-stable until you open it, and once the top is popped, store the bottle in a refrigerator. If you make your own banana ketchup, you will want to keep it in the fridge where it should last for months, all depending on how much vinegar used.

Added sugars in banana ketchup

Condiments, including banana ketchup, contain high amounts of sugar. Only 1 tbsp of banana ketchup has almost 20% of the daily added sugar limits recommended by The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (for a person who consumes 2,000 calories).

What Does Banana Ketchup Taste Like? Banana ketchup is a sweet and tangy condiment. Thanks to the vinegar and spice blend, it's relatively similar to tomato ketchup, but with a twist of fruitiness. Ideally, it's paired with savory and salty dishes, which balances out the condiment's natural sweetness.

The new Papa Sweet Sarap Banana Ketchup contains vitamins B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), and B6 (pyridoxine), part of the B-complex of vitamins that perform vital tasks in the body.

Banana ketchup can be used in any way you'd use tomato ketchup. Drizzle it on a hot dog or burger, or use it to dip chicken fingers and fries. Try it over eggs and rice, or serve on the side with grilled meat. But if you want to see banana ketchup at its finest, try it in a traditional Filipino recipe.

Despite its seeming incongruity, banana ketchup is a pantry staple that rings nostalgic to many Filipinos all over the world. Magdalo V. Francisco, Sr. is credited with mass-producing banana ketchup in 1942, thus making it a fixture in the Filipino household.

Within the Filipino community worldwide, banana ketchup — typically made with bananas, sugar, vinegar, spices, and dye — reigns supreme over the tomato-based version.