The two national ketchups are mostly tomato concentrate and high-fructose corn syrup, tuned by food scientists to hit the exact same sweet note every time. Ketchup made in small batches from real tomatoes and actual sugar tastes like tomatoes first and sweetness second — and the ingredient list is short enough to read out loud.
Published July 2026 · Updated 7 Jul 2026
Jeff Bergadine and Michael Deal started this in Oregon in 2010, making organic ketchup by hand in small batches from organic tomato puree and cane sugar — no high-fructose corn syrup, bottled in glass. It's the Portland Ketchup Company line, and the short ingredient list is the whole pitch.
Why it isn't on AmazonThis is genuinely small-batch, hand-made organic ketchup in glass — the opposite of a plastic squeeze bottle of corn syrup. That kind of ketchup isn't something the grocery ketchup shelf carries.
See it at Portlandia Foods →Navy veteran Abe Kamarck runs this independent Alexandria, Virginia maker, and its ketchup is sweetened only with apple, butternut squash, and carrot puree — no added sugar at all, and no corn syrup or stevia. It's a real answer for anyone cutting sugar who doesn't want an artificial sweetener aftertaste.
Why it isn't on AmazonCutting the sugar out of ketchup usually means dumping in stevia or sucralose. Sweetening it with actual vegetables instead is unusual and hard to find, and it's the reason to seek this one out specifically.
See it at True Made Foods →A family-run Ohio maker going since 2018, bottling real-ingredient ketchup with no high-fructose corn syrup, plus mustard and mayo in the same small-batch line. It sells and ships everything from its own site, so you're buying straight from the family that makes it.
Why it isn't on AmazonA small family maker doing a straightforward, honest ketchup without HFCS, shipped direct. You won't stumble on a regional maker like this in a national grocery chain.
See it at Cleveland Ketchup Co. →The Das Peach Haus family has made specialty condiments in Fredericksburg, Texas since 1969, handcrafting ketchups and sauces in small batches without high-fructose corn syrup and shipping from their own farmstead store. Their strength is the flavored and specialty end — a ketchup with more going on than plain.
Why it isn't on AmazonThis is a 50-plus-year Texas farmstead maker whose specialty ketchups and sauces you'd only find at the shop or online, not on a supermarket shelf. Worth it if you want ketchup with some character rather than a clone of the national brands.
See it at Fischer & Wieser →This seat's open on purpose — we won't pad the list to hit a number. If you ship real ketchup direct, it's earned, not sold.
Add your brand →The two big national ketchups are sweetened mainly with high-fructose corn syrup, a cheap industrial sweetener, and a single tablespoon of mainstream ketchup can carry around four grams of sugar. Small makers sweeten with cane sugar, honey, or vegetable purees instead, which changes both the flavor and how much added sugar you're eating. If you eat ketchup regularly, the sweetener is the ingredient worth caring about most.
Yes — True Made Foods sweetens its ketchup entirely with apple, butternut squash, and carrot puree, with no added sugar and no artificial sweeteners like stevia or sucralose. That vegetable base gives it real sweetness without the aftertaste people dislike in diet condiments. It's the standout on this shelf if cutting sugar is your goal.
Yes. Commercial ketchup is acidic and sweet enough to sit out for a while, but even it lasts longer refrigerated, and small-batch ketchup with fewer preservatives should go in the fridge once opened. Refrigerated, an opened bottle keeps its flavor for a couple of months. Glass bottles, which several of these makers use, also protect the flavor better than plastic squeeze bottles.
Glass doesn't leach into acidic foods or absorb odors the way plastic can, and it protects flavor over time, so makers who care about taste tend to choose it. It's also just a signal of intent — someone bottling by hand in glass is making a different product than a factory filling plastic squeeze bottles. The tradeoff is that glass is heavier to ship and you pour rather than squeeze.
Make or grow real ketchup and think you belong here? Tell us → — features are on merit, never for sale.
Some "see it at…" links are affiliate links — if you buy through one, 5best2buy may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never costs the maker anything, and it never decides who makes the list. The list is the list.
© 2026 5best2buy · Worth The Hunt · No.120