"gherkin" news and stories

What do you do when times are tough? Reinvention! Tropicana (and Pepsi) have already done it, and now Heinz is getting in on the action.

Gone are the days when the tasty gherkin graced the label. Did you ever notice it? The gherkin has shrunk over the years, once looking quite hefty (look to the right), and now an almost-forgotten blip at the bottom of the label. Blip or not, it's been on the bottles for over 100 years, and now Heinz Ketchup is trading it in for a "vine-ripened tomato" and a new tagline: "Grown not made."

I get the switch, since nothing about a gherkin makes you think of ketchup, but does it really matter? Does putting a vine-ripened tomato on the label make a difference? I guess I'm just crusty about everything continually changing to look modern. Old isn't necessarily bad. Remember the wave of nostalgia that came with those old Coke bottles? Poor gherkin. Couldn't the pickle and tomato just share?