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by sevensor 3028 days ago
I was sad to learn that sauces like ketchup are mostly sugar. Even sriracha is quite sugary.
2 comments

If it's a popular sauce in America, it's almost sugary as a rule. BBQ sauce, maple syrup, salad dressing, tomato sauce. Mustard might be the one solid exception (?)

I don't know if this is because sugary sauces become popular, or because popular sauces were adulterated with sugar.

Mustard, mayonnaise, and chile-vinegar sauces like Tabasco or Frank's RedHot are the only sugar-free sauces I can think of at the moment.

Most everything else either has sugar or an artificial sweetener in it--or some back-door sugar, like raisin paste, or fruit juice concentrates.

It is likely because condiments came from preserved foods, and those generally require a high concentration of sugar or salt, or a low pH, in order to avoid spoilage. And some are concentrated from foods that are naturally sweet.

I think the sweetness was always valued in a sauce, and substituting the previous source of the sweetness with corn syrup or HFCS is a more recent trend, to cut costs. So it's the latter: popular sauces were adulterated with sugar.

Heinz mayonnaise, at least where I live (outside of the US) contains an ungodly amount of sugar, it is the second ingredient, and makes it properly disgusting.
Would you believe that even Grey fricking Poupon mustard has added sugar?
Salsa has lots of flavor, and little or not sugar.