The Flavour For Ketchup Has Gone

I've never been much of a tomato ketchup lover, but I know many people for whom no meal is complete without a generous dollop of the 'red stuff'. But it seems that traditional table sauces, like ketchup and mayonnaise could be on the way out. More of us Brits are switching to more spicier alternatives.

Sales of ketchup, brown sauce (I do like that!), salad cream and mayo have dropped in the last twelve months, while sales of chilli sauce is on the up. A recent report has found that hot sauces are enjoying a sizzling sales growth of 8 per cent in the past year. Meanwhile tomato ketchup and brown sauce sales have plummeted by 4 per cent, salad cream by 9 per cent and mayonnaise was down by 3 per cent.

You may have noticed that our supermarkets have cottoned-on to our trend for ever-more spicier food, with stores like Tesco now selling the world's fieriest chilli, the Carolina Reaper (below). Asda meanwhile, is sending a team of buyers to Mexico to research hot sauces. In all, of 171 new condiments introduced by our biggest supermarkets in the past year, almost half were more adventurous varieties such as chilli or barbecue. Of the 21 new ketchups on offer in stores, six had added chilli.

I think I'll just stick to brown sauce on my scrambled egg!