In recent weeks, millions of Aldi shoppers have been tuning into the Channel 4 show, Aldi’s Next Big Thing.
The show offers artisan food makers the chance to pitch their products to the supermarket chain hoping it will be stocked in over 1000 UK Aldi stores.
Previous winners have included Jamaican patty, wine spritz, crabcakes and chocolate clusters, and now there’s a new product to add to the list.
The latest winner has been named as the slightly odd but exciting taste of Roni’s Filipino-style banana ketchup.
Yes, banana ketchup.
It might sound mad and something that should never be put together, but the creators at Roni B’s Kitchen wowed Aldi judges and have seen the product enter thousands of stores.
I was able to get an early taste of the winning sauce and I have to say that it's oddly amazing.
I tried the winner of Aldi’s Next Big Thing- Banana Ketchup
As Brits, we can be very stuck in our ways when it comes to condiments, especially the sacred sauce of ketchup.
Despite not being a British delicacy, we have adopted it like it's our own with very few variations of its kind.
That’s why when I first heard that banana ketchup was the winner, I was a little bit taken aback, bewildered even.
The idea of mixing a tomato sauce with a fruit shocked and disgusted me, however, thanks to my curious mind, it left me wanting to try the product.
So, after taking in all the details labelled on the back of the bottle and reading the handing note by Aldi and Roni B’s Kitchen, I shook the bottle and let a dollop land on my plate as I prepared myself to taste the unique sauce.
At first glance, the colour may be off-putting to some, with it not being exactly red as a tomato sauce and maybe even slightly matte in shade, some may describe it as looking like a smoothie.
However, away from the look, the taste speaks for itself.
First tasting the sauce on its own, I was first met with a slightly reggae sauce, think Levi Roots Reggae Reggae sauce.
But what followed was a blend of exotic mixes slightly too odd for my taste buds to comprehend and too odd to not go in for another taste.
On the second taste, I began to understand the flavours and welcomed the mix of sweet and sour with a hint of spice.
While the banana is on the label, there’s no need to panic that the fruit is overpowering, as it somehow perfectly mixes with the zingy taste of tomatoes.
The label suggests drizzling, stir in or dollop, while I may have only dolloped, I could easily imagine adding the sauce to pasta or a chilli to add a twist of taste.
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Roni B’s Banana Ketchup can only be described as something that doesn’t work but just does.
You would never think a banana would go with a tomato, but the odd flavours of both seem to perfectly work.
In the same way that cheese and onion work, ham and jam work and grapes and cheese, you might not think of those partners working, but they just do.
Roni B’s Filipino Style Banana Ketchup will be available in Aldi stores nationwide from Wednesday, May 1.
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