I’m the type of person who eats fries without ketchup. I don\u2019t usually reach for the red squeeze bottle at restaurants or diners, and I never save the little packets at the bottom of a takeout bag. But when I see a glass bottle of glossy, bright-red banana ketchup, I can\u2019t resist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Banana ketchup \u2014 or \u201cbanana sauce,\u201d as it\u2019s known in the Western world \u2014 is a condiment made from bananas, vinegar, and sugar. Filipino food scientist and nationalist Maria Orosa invented it in the 1930s to reduce the Philippines\u2019 reliance on expensive imports such as tomatoes, and promote the use of native produce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To this day her legacy endures, with several different brands\u2019 renditions of the sweet and tangy sauce stocked on the shelves of grocery stores in the Philippines, as well as specialty Asian grocers all over the world and online. My personal favorite is UFC\u2019s banana ketchup, which went on everything from fried eggs and hotdogs to lumpia Shanghai and my grandmother\u2019s special spaghetti when I was growing up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Makes UFC\u2019s Banana Ketchup So Good <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the bottle, just beneath the UFC logo, is the Tagalog phrase \u201ctamis anghang,\u201d which translates literally to \u201csweet and spicy.\u201d It perfectly captures the flavor profile of UFC\u2019s banana ketchup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love its sharp, tangy sweetness and the spice you can actually taste. Compared with traditional ketchup, UFC\u2019s banana ketchup has a deeper, richer flavor that makes it stand out. My mom and I also appreciate a bit of heat, and the mild kick lingers as the flavors unfold on your tongue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s also a \u201cTamis Angas\u201d version \u2014 \u201cangas\u201d being Filipino slang for tough or cool \u2014 that is said to be 15 times spicier than the original. The Best Way to Use UFC\u2019s Banana Ketchup<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I grew up in a Filipino household, and banana ketchup was the staple, cover-all sauce that went with everything: fried eggs, hotdogs, fried or roasted chicken, nuggets, lumpia, and burgers. My mom even slathers it on her pandesal at breakfast. Its punchy, salty sweetness literally goes with anything you\u2019d imagine regular ketchup would pair well with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But aside from being a side sauce, banana ketchup is also great for marinating grilled meats. It\u2019s an absolutely essential ingredient for Filipino-style barbecue and grilled dishes like pork liempo, because it renders a signature sweet zing like no other condiment can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, of course, there\u2019s the beloved (but, to some, infamous) Filipino sweet-style spaghetti. UFC\u2019s banana ketchup, specifically, is my grandmother\u2019s \u201csecret\u201d ingredient for her special lip-tingling spaghetti, which she still serves at her restaurant back in our small hometown. It\u2019s still my favorite sweet spaghetti. My mother also likes to add a bit of the ketchup to her own homemade baked macaroni recipe, and it\u2019s delicious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m the type of person who eats fries without ketchup. I don\u2019t usually reach for the red squeeze bottle at restaurants or diners, and I never save the little packets at the bottom of a takeout bag. But when I see a glass bottle of glossy, bright-red banana ketchup, I can\u2019t resist. Banana ketchup \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":714,"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions\/714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpgfoodfinds.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}