Man creates ‘ketchup leather’

YOU can now get tomato ketchup in handy squares, and it’s blowing people’s minds. ‘Ketchup leather’, as it is called, was invented by Ernesto Uchimura, a chef at an LA restaurant, Plan Check.

He invented the square of hard ketchup, which melts upon contact with a hot juicy burger, just like cheese does, because he was fed up of too much sauce making his buns soggy.

To make the leather, the chef blends tomato paste with soy sauce, garlic and other spices. Then, he dries it out in the oven before cutting into squares.

The idea is that your burger bun doesn’t get too mushy and you get a perfect amount of sauce every single time.

CAROL Suchman, a New York businesswoman and philanthropist, said she donates toys to the city’s poor children for the holiday season each year and she had an idea recently when she passed by the shuttered Hudson Party Store in Manhattan’s West Village which was closed and had a ‘For Rent’ sign on the window.

“When I saw this toy store, I just realised I could do it on a grander scale,” Suchman told of her holiday gift-giving. “The toys in there looked so sad, and they were gathering dust; it occurred to me we should bring those toys to where they should be going — to all the homeless kids in the city.”

Suchman, who used to own a successful technology firm with her husband, said she makes it an annual tradition to donate gifts to children in need.

Suchman said she usually makes her donations anonymously, but she is speaking about her toy store purchase in the hopes of inspiring others to do the same.