Heinz battles Baltimor in Russia

by Joe DiStefano, Posted Aug 8th 2006 @ 4:01PM

Heinz is coming to Russia in an effort to wrest market share away from Baltimor. America's most popular ketchup is synonymous with the condiment. So is Russia's.

Baltimor, which takes its name from the words for Baltic Sea, is associated with the word ketchup by 81 percent of the Russian population. And Russians are ketchup crazed, consuming more than three pounds annually. They use it on meat, fish, eggs and dumplings, among other things.

Now that Heinz has bought a majority stake in a St. Petersburg food manufacturer that's a major player in the world of condiments it has its work cut out.

Baltimor offers 15 varieties of ketchup. These range from the cayenne and chili-laced Ajica to Winter Garden, a sweet and sour ketchup with prunes. In case your wondering, Winter Garden is recommended for pizza, pelmeni, pasta and potato fries. Mmm...prune pizza.

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Filed Under: Business, Food Oddities, Ingredients
Tags: Ajica, america, Baltic Sea, BalticSea, Baltimor, Baltimore, comfort food, condiments, dinner, eastern europe, Heinz, ketchup, lunch, oddities, Russia, Russians, Winter Garden, WinterGarden