# Why is purple ketchup disgusting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095 "2010-08-04T02:45:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/41 "2010-08-05T08:03:59Z")
I seem to remember there being a study about this, that used pictures of food and had people explain which was more appetizing, and the natural colors won, hands down with adults, but children tended to think foods altered to look a different color were neat. Thus, I was unsurprised at the ketchup. For me, it’s just the fact that such bright primary colors are intensely associated in my mind with certain artificial flavors. I remember when I first learned that raspberries weren’t blue. It blew my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/42 "2010-08-05T13:23:02Z")
It’s not just the funky colors of ketchup that are offputting to me, but even the wrong shade or surface reflectance. Say, for example, I’m forced to eat at Sam’s Club for lunch. They don’t have ketchup packets, let alone Heinz or Hunt’s ketchup packets, just the pump-your-own. The red color is close, but the puddle of ketchup that forms has the wrong surface reflectance. It’s like the ketchup is coated with several layers of clear-coat. That certainly makes it less appealing. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/43 "2010-08-05T13:44:08Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I seem to remember there being a study about this, that used pictures of food and had people explain which was more appetizing, and the natural colors won, hands down with adults, but children tended to think foods altered to look a different color were neat. Thus, I was unsurprised at the ketchup. That’s interesting. Now that you say that, I remember a brief obsession with food coloring when I was about six. (I had forgotten it.) I was putting food coloring in eggs, oatmeal, all sorts of things. My mom indulged me. Guess the weird colors didn’t bother me then. Hmm. That does suggest that maybe there is a learned response at work here rather than something instinctive. **devilsknew** might be onto something with the Pavlovian idea. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/44 "2010-08-05T13:53:51Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > > [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > > > I like diced onions and dill relish on my hot dogs, but it’s a pain in the ass to chop onions everytime I prepare a hot dog. So, I started mixing them together. The pickle juice preserved the onions and I could spoon them both out at once. **Well, one day I had some purple onions** … > > I wonder how that happened? The brine made chopped white onions turn purple? Sorry, I guess I didn’t make it clear. The pigment in the purple onions leached out and turned the entire mixture a purplish-pinkish color that does not resemble food. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I guess you might have trouble eating Yucatecan [pickled onions](http://www.dinnercraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/pickled_onions.jpg), which are a traditional topping for cochinita pibil (the iconic dish of the Yucatan.) I might at that, even if my rational mind knows damned well that it’s actually delicious. Then again, onions at that level of done-ness often resemble nightcrawlers to me, so maybe some color would diminish that effect. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/45 "2010-08-05T16:28:33Z")
When I was growing up in Saskatchewan during the '50s, colured margarine was illegal, so it came with a little packet of bright orange powder you could mix in. It was a great advance when it started coming in a plastic bag with a little bubble of dye you could pop and mix in by squeezing the bag. Then coloured marg was legalized, but had to be much yellower than butter. I don’t know if that still holds. **pulykamell** , those onions look a lot like some pickled beets I’ve seen. Delicious! ---
**Author:** ![Jackebo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@Jackebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackebo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/46 "2010-08-05T17:27:03Z")
I missed out on the colored ketchup thing and glad i did. I have a hard enough time with red ketchup. ---
**Author:** ![dobieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@dobieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dobieman)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/47 "2010-08-05T17:51:50Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > > [@Superhal](#): > > > > Maybe there’s an unconscious trigger or psychological effect regarding spoilage. For example, I would never eat green bread. Purple sounds very much like rotten tomatoes. Blue or green, I think, wouldn’t trigger my spoilage reflex. > > _Blue_ wouldn’t? I can’t think of any colour more likely to evoke images of food spoilage than blue. What’s blue and edible in nature? > > In case you can’t tell, blue is the only food colour I won’t eat. I don’t find the thought of purple particularly revolting. Green is bad for some things (eggs and ham come to mind…), fine for others. > > I call my second daughter a “red-ivore”. If it’s red, she’ll eat it. That’s mostly fruit (apples, watermelons, cherries, strawberries) but also tomatoes, capsicums, carrots (close enough) and cocktail frankfurts. I do wonder if there is some evolutionary psychology at work there because a lot of foods do use red as a signal “I’m ready to eat” Blueberries are a “blue” edible in nature that comes quickly to mind. Marionberries and huckleberries, in some forms, are also blue. All are extremely edible, tasty, and attractive. In general, though, you are right in saying there are few blue foods occurring naturally or at least that has been my experience, too. Perhaps purple reminds you of spoiled meat which can quickly acquire a purplish tinge and accompanying horrible odor of decomposition? ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/48 "2010-08-05T19:42:25Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > An interesting question. I have huge hang-ups with food being the wrong color. I also have a hang-up about red ketchup. I can eat other red things, including spaghetti sauce, but not ketchup, because it looks like blood. I think I’d actually rather eat a French fry dipped in blood than ketchup, as long as it was my own. > > I know, it just makes no sense. Oddly enough, I was going to say that the purple ketchup looks like coagulated blood and I wouldn’t eat it. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/49 "2010-08-07T05:20:00Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > > [@bordelond](#): > > > > There’s some hot dog relish out there that’s dyed electric Kelly green – I ate it at a small hot-dog-specializing diner in the Chicago suburbs circa 2000. That relish’s color makes it rather unappealing. > > That’s Vienna Beef’s [Chicago-style relish](http://www.viennabeef.com/assets/items/70002.jpg). And [here it is](http://fastfood.ocregister.com/files/2009/05/viennahotdog_web.jpg) on some bastard child of a hot dog. Vienna Beef wants you to believe this relish is part of a genuine Chicago hot dog, but it’s just Vienna Beef marketing. Even at places which do the full to-spec “Chicago-style” hot dog (which isn’t even necessarily the predominant form of hot dog in Chicago), they often (usually) substitute normal relish for the neon-green crap. For me, it’s a matter of sweet pickle relish vs. savory dill pickle relish. I have never eaten chicago style neon relish so I have no idea if it is sweet or savory, or how it tastes in any way for that matter? But seeing that intense green automatically triggers a sweet ghosting response, so it might make me react adversely if I were to try it and discover it is savory dill pickle relish, expecting one thing, and getting another. Now, of course if I had some right here I could sniff it first before tasting it and determine immediately if it is sweet or savory perhaps realigning and ameliorating my reaction. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/50 "2010-08-07T05:42:22Z")
I guess that color of neon green in chicago style relish makes me expect the green apple or watermelon flavored suckers/hard candy of my youth. Hence the sweet ghost, however simultaneously, their flavors don’t necessarily clash and share that “green” flavonoid present in cucumber, green apple, and watermelon, collectively… so they are harmonious. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/51 "2010-08-07T06:20:01Z")
Or actually, after exploring that neural web and its convolutions What I am actually associating that unnatural cuke relish with, is my Aunt Jewel’s Crystallized or Candied Sweet Pickles. I think they were prepared with pickling lime and were unnaturally crisp and sweet. One of my favorite pickles at special meals and gatherings. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/52 "2010-08-07T06:42:45Z")
Not only were those crystal pickles supernaturally sweet and crisp, they were a supraliminal shade of green… I suspect Durkee’s Green Food Coloring. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/53 "2010-08-07T07:35:02Z")
(They do the same with watermelon rind, down south. Fresh watermelon wedges eaten to the bone… plenty of seed spittin’ contests, then mama would collect the green rinds after and crystalize them with sugar. Nothing wasted, nothing wonted, Nature’s true candy. Who doesn’t like watermelon?) ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/54 "2010-08-08T05:42:19Z")
I think purple ketchup would be off putting because it is “close” but not ketchup red, as opposed say, to green. Also we have green condiments, but again that shade of purple I would think of as non savory. In regards to food colouring, I should note that blue is useful because it is not a naturally produced colour in the human body. [Blue Dye Tests](http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/PatientEd/Materials/PDFDocs/procedure/bluedye-test.pdf) are used sometimes to determine readiness for tracheostomy weaning. (Not so much anymore and there are some studies that show it to have up to a 40% false positive rate) ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/55 "2010-08-08T09:31:01Z")
The outlawing of dyed yellow margarine seems kind of counterintuitive to me, as genuine butter isn’t really yellow anyways, it is an off white or quite literally cream colored, and in my estimation pretty similar in color to undyed oleo? Did the Dairy industry use to dye their butter? Did cows eat more grass then, dandelions?.. I just have never seen a bright yellow butter? It would seem like an advantage to the dairy industry for its competitor to be some weird unnatural yellow. ---
**Author:** ![Rosanne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Rosanne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosanne)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/56 "2010-08-10T23:23:48Z")
I can go you all one better for yuckiness. My boss’s husband is a fantastic cook but the only dish of his that I couldnt bring myself to eat was his black bean soup. The beans and the soup are actually black and the chunks of ham looked like chunks of coal. Just picturing that awful concoction in my mind gives me the shudders! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/57 "2010-08-10T23:50:10Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew;12777996 Did the Dairy industry use to dye their butter? [/QUOTE] It’s still common for butter to be dyed with annatto for a hint of yellowness, but I’ve never seen anything glowing yellow. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/58 "2010-08-10T23:56:18Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > The outlawing of dyed yellow margarine seems kind of counterintuitive to me, as genuine butter isn’t really yellow anyways, it is an off white or quite literally cream colored, and in my estimation pretty similar in color to undyed oleo? Did the Dairy industry use to dye their butter? Did cows eat more grass then, dandelions?.. I just have never seen a bright yellow butter? It would seem like an advantage to the dairy industry for its competitor to be some weird unnatural yellow. Well, outlawing dyed margarine doesn’t mean you can’t dye the butter. Butter has some amount of color, but what most people buy has been dyed, and they expect it to be yellower than it naturally is. The Trader Joe’s butter in my fridge says it’s made from “Pasteurized cream, salt, and seasonally, annatto”. Annatto is a type of yellow food coloring. Also, I believe undyed oleo is REALLY dead fishbelly white, which is what the dairy industry wished to stick the oleo manufacturers trying to sell. Since they couldn’t make them dye it pink, and look even more unnatural. ---
**Author:** ![LAV25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@LAV25](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LAV25)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095/59 "2010-08-13T02:40:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I guess you might have trouble eating Yucatecan [pickled onions](http://www.dinnercraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/pickled_onions.jpg), which are a traditional topping for cochinita pibil (the iconic dish of the Yucatan.) I’d have trouble with that since I’d expect it to taste like the [pickled ginger](http://www.jenius.com.au/images/ichiBanBoshi_pickledGinger.jpg) we have here on gyudon (beef bowl). -val [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-ketchup-disgusting/549095.md?page=2)