The UK has a rich history when it comes to condiments. A lot add unami taste to our dishes (a Japanese word meaning 'savoury deliciousness'), and a survey carried out recently by Fentimans found brown sauce ranks second in a list of the UK's top 10 favourite bold flavours.
A magazine called Speciality Food has looked at the history of various regional sauces, including Worcestershire sauce, Henderson's relish ("like Worcestershire sauce, but a million times better", according to Matt Helders from Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys), and Colman's mustard. Top tip for Hendo's btw - try it sprinkled on cottage pie, eggs, cheese on toast, or even a chippy tea. It's a taste sensation!
I do most of the supermarket shopping in our house, so I've noticed a burgeoning range of exotic sauces arriving on shop shelves in recent times. Apparently, the latest invention from Heinz UK is Monster Munch Mayo, flavoured with pickled onion claw-shaped crisps. I've not tried it yet, but am very keen to do so! Kraft Heinz have someone who has the very cool job title of Director of Taste Elevation, and Thiago Rapp said: "We're thrilled to be partnering with Walkers to bring Heinz (Scarily) Good Monster Munch Mayo to life. With Halloween just around the corner, we wanted to create something truly special".
I seem to recall that black mayo was on the shelves last year, which I sadly didn't get round to trying. I have sampled the Sausage Sarnie crisps flavoured with Heinz tomato ketchup, though, and those are delicious. I'm all for weird brand collaborations, and will pretty much scoff anything, hence the fact I've just signed up for a gym membership.
Halloween parties continue to soar in popularity among Generation Z, with 42 per cent apparently taking their spooky socials very seriously, from the clothes they don to the scary snacks they provide. I guess Monster Munch Mayo could make a good addition to the gory buffet table.
Talking of Gen-Z, there was another weird survey out lately (honestly, I live for them, as they make great radio content) which looked at Heinz Salad Cream. This is still the fifth most popular condiment. There were attempts to axe it back in the 1990s, and perhaps more horrifying, plans were unveiled in 2018 to rename it as Sandwich Cream. Thankfully, there was a backlash, and the classic name remained intact.
A little history lesson for you. Salad Cream turns 110 years old this year, and was the first Heinz product to be developed exclusively for the UK market in 1914 by Charles Hellen, who was Heinz UK's general manager at the time. The recipe took eight years to perfect. It was worth the effort, I'd say! Salad Cream is also enjoyed in the USA, Canada, Thailand, Kenya, Mauritius and Ghana. Around £30 million worth is bought each year in the UK. Not bad for a sauce that was almost seen off by the vastly inferior mayonnaise in 1999.
Back to the strange survey, and Brits were asked 'what do you use Salad Cream for'? Seems a fairly innocuous question, but some of the answers that came back were seriously strange. Bosses at Heinz revealed some Brits use it as a foot cream, whilst others use it as a massage oil. You really did read that correctly. One bloke even said he used it as a shower gel.
I refuse to believe that the survey respondent who said they used Salad Cream as a 'moisturising foot mask' was being entirely serious, but that's nowt so strange as folk. A man called Andrew Carey said he adds it onto his banana sandwiches, whilst May Porter recommended adding it to chocolate fudge cake. I'm not sure this newspaper's kitchen columnist Kirsty would endorse either of these culinary tips!
Other quirky responses included someone who likes to add a squirt of Salad Cream to their bath water, whist Phil Curling (is that a real name?!) likes to put a layer of it on top of his Double Decker chocolate bar. Heinz also revealed recently that they asked AI to come up with a definition of Salad Cream for the uninitiated, and it came up with "mayo's quirky cousin, a bit sweeter and tangier".
All of this chat has made me crave a sourdough sandwich with ready salted Seabrook crisps and a liberal amount of Salad Cream, so that's my tea sorted for later. I'll report back if I manage to try the pickled onion Monster Munch mayo.
