Just back from a wild night out -erm, mainly spent sitting in train stations actually, but a lightning strike on the signalling system must take a while to sort out- and whilst I was finishing off the last of the risotto (so I wouldn't have to admit to dinner being a chicken sandwich and a bag of crisps) my eyes alighted on a tin of Heinz tomato soup (I'm so virtuous -cough- it was recently cleaned and about to go into the recycling) , and more specifically the little "57" on it.
Now almost everyone who's ever eaten baked beans knows about Heinz's 57 varieties. But have you ever thought how odd that is? It's a very old slogan, back from the times when there were only 5 types of tinned soup (or at least it seemed that way), but yet this company that I can only remember selling soup, baked beans and possibly some form of spaghetti hoops had 57 -count them- different varieties on their books. Now that is one heck of a set of variations on "tomato", and one that I (not too drunkenly) feel the need to investigate a little further. And heck, it's *my* blog...
Cooo.... wikipedia's entry on the 57 dates it back to 1892, when Heinz had more than 60 products but liked the number '57' lots. So what were they? I have some of the list: plum pudding, strawberry preserve, india relish, olive oil, spaghetti, euchred pickle (is that one that knows how to play cards?), currant jelly, chilli sauce, peanut butter, celery soup, horseradish, sauerkraut, vinegar, tomato ketchup, red pepper sauce, green pepper sauce, cider vinegar, apple butter, mincemeat, mustard, tomato soup, olives, pickled onions, pickled cauliflower, baked beans, sweet pickle. Looks a little like the base list for my own cupboards now. Except I'm a little light on the apple butter stuff. Sadly, despite my best search efforts, this is as big a list of 1892 varieties as I can assemble without seriously bugging the Heinz historians. Perhaps I will. Or perhaps tomorrow will bring a new and equally interesting question into my life. Who knows?
Oh, and I went to the gym today. Bodypump followed by pilates. Two (count them) sets of push-ups and planks. I confidently expect this to be the last time I can get my hands close enough together to type with both of them at the same time for quite some time... I can already feel the beer wearing off and my shoulders starting to stiffen towards useless. Goodnight.
1 comment:
I bet you don't have any sauerkraut or pickled cauliflower either. The latter would have been eaten with sausages long ago and the latter isn't food - it's very ineffectual paint stripper.
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