Dammit, now they've gone too far!

I'm outraged, horrified and generally discombobulated to read that Heinz have meddled with the recipe of that grand old English institution, HP Sauce. The Telegraph reports:

For over 116 years, HP sauce has been the favoured British condiment.

But now, the age-old recipe has been secretly altered at the request of Government health chiefs.

Heinz, the American company which bought the famous British brand in 2005, has changed the celebrated concoction that includes tomatoes, malt vinegar, molasses, dates, tamarind and secret spices to reduce the salt content.

The previous version of the brown sauce, which has become synonymous with fry-up breakfasts and bacon sandwiches, used to contain 2.1g of salt per 100g. The new version contains just 1.3g.

But fans of the sauce say the small change has altered the whole taste, and they are not happy.

The most famous critic, Michelin-starred Marco Pierre White, said he sent back a meal of sausages and mash at Piers Morgan's Kensington pub The Hansom Cab last week because he thought it was off. "At first, I thought it was the sausages, but it wasn't," he said. "It was the HP, which tasted disgusting. It was definitely dodgy. I had no idea they had changed the recipe.

“I was brought up on HP Sauce in Yorkshire. My old man used to say ketchup was for Southerners and HP was for Northerners. My father would turn in his grave if he discovered they changed the recipe.”

. . .

A Heinz spokesman said: ‘‘In line with changes in consumer tastes, Heinz has long been committed to reducing added salt in recipes in line with Government health targets."

There's more at the link. Over at the Daily Mail, its readers are in revolt too.

... yesterday HP Sauce fans complained that their favourite brand had been left tasting ‘bland’ and ‘disgusting’ after a cut in salt to meet health targets.

Hundreds of readers contacted Mail Online to say the sauce just isn’t what it used to be, saying they were simply sprinkling their own salt on top or switching to other brands.

. . .

Many long-time fans of HP Sauce have complained that the familiar tangy taste has been ruined as a result.

Some, already disillusioned after production switched from Birmingham to Holland, said it was misleading to continue marking bottles as ‘The Original HP Sauce’.

. . .

One [reader], ‘VJF’, wrote: ‘I just improvise, adapt and overcome! Add a touch of salt to the HP, tastes just like I remember!’

Some questioned whether a reduction of just over one-third the amount of salt in a small dollop of sauce was really going to improve the nation’s health anyway.

One, Mark, calculated that the change would cut his daily salt intake by 0.0022g. ‘Absolutely no health benefits at all,’ he concluded.

Again, more at the link.

HP Sauce really is a British culinary institution, in the same way that, here in the USA, hot dogs automatically go on a roll with mustard, or corned beef goes with sauerkraut to make a Reuben sandwich, or fries are dipped in ketchup. It's no wonder that this secret change to the traditional recipe has Britons up in arms. I'm a colonial, not even a true Brit, and I'm outraged by it! I can't believe the idiots at Heinz would mess with my favorite sauce like that! To hell with Government health targets! Leave my HP sauce alone!

As Bugs Bunny would say: "Of course, you realize this means war!"





Peter