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If someone were to ask, “Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?”, you may get differing answers depending on the company. Commonly classified as veg, the savory red plant is, in fact, a fruit, or really a berry, as the fruit grows from the flower of a plant and has a chamber of seeds inside. That being said, NFL player George Kittle dropped a further dilemma on us, positing on X: “If tomatoes are a fruit, is ketchup a smoothie?” Now his musings have come to fruition, as one iconic condiment brand is bringing the ketchup smoothie to life.
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Just in time for the peak of the tomato season, HEINZ has debuted The HEINZ Tomato Ketchup Smoothie. Starting today, August 6, select Smoothie King locations around the country, including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and right here in the city, are blending up the ripened red smoothie for a limited time. More than just a squirt of the stuff in a Styrofoam cup, the smoothie comes with a blend of açaí sorbet, apple juice, strawberries and raspberries for a sweet and tangy sip.
“After months of meticulous R&D, testing, and tasting, we landed on a savory-sweet blend that celebrates the tomato in all its glory,” said Lori Primavera, vice president of R&D and product marketing at Smoothie King, in a press release.
Of course, this isn’t the first time the smoothie franchise has blended up something special. Last year, the brand partnered with Dude Perfect, a group of influencers whose content of comedy and trick-shots has racked up 61.4 million subscribers on YouTube. The group of five—Cory and Coby Cotton, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones and Tyler Toney—created a protein-based drink, aptly named Dude Perfect, that included a combo of pineapples, bananas, kiwi-apple juice, vanilla frozen yogurt, turbinado and blue spirulina for color.
It begs to reason: will the Smoothie King follow in the footsteps of upscale L.A. grocer, Erewhon, and tap celebrities like Hailey Bieber and Olivia Rodrigo for its prohibitively expensive smoothies? It's hard to say. But if you are ready for a “tomato girl summer” now, head to your nearest Smoothie King to try the berry-like concoction and join the discourse by using the hashtag #KetchupSmoothie.