Did you know that Manwich can be used in recipes for tacos, chicken wings — even pizza?
Turns out this grocery staple is a lot more than just your average Sloppy Joe.
So, to learn all about the untold truth of Manwich, keep watching.
Manwich got its start back in 1969.
Marketed as a quick-and-easy shortcut for one-pot meals, it provided all of the seasonings
you needed to turn a simple pan of browned ground meat into a meal.
Contrary to what you might believe, however, Manwich didn't actually invent the Sloppy
Joe.
That honor, according to The Takeout, may belong to 1 of several possible inventors:
an actual Joe in the kitchen of Maid-Rite in Muscatine, Iowa, or the Havana-based José
Abeal Otero, the proprietor of a bar that shared the name of the sandwich.
If the latter story is to be believed, legend says it was Ernest Hemingway himself who convinced
his buddy Joe Russell to use the name for his own Key West establishment in the '30s.
Either way, the Sloppy Joe was well established before Manwich entered onto the scene.
"Have some more Sloppy Joes."
Much like Hamburger Helper, Manwich doesn't actually contain the beef you need to turn
it into a meal.
That honor falls to Manwich's Heat & Serve, a product launched in 2004 that combines the
beloved sauce with the meat for an even easier dinner.
The traditional can of Manwich is filled, not with beef, but with the ready-made sauce.
It's intended to be added to a skillet of browned beef, thus transforming it into the
ideal sandwich filling.
The company's original Sloppy Joe sauce is made with a tomato purée base, sweetened
with both regular and high-fructose corn syrup.
A touch of distilled vinegar adds a pleasant kick of acidity.
The sauce also contains spices like chili pepper, as well as aromatics like garlic.
The result is a flavorful way to jazz up dinner quickly and easily.
While the original Sloppy Joe sauce is a surefire classic, the company now makes its sauce in
several different flavors.
In addition to the original recipe, Manwich makes a Bourbon BBQ version.
This Manwich flavor contains honey, molasses, mesquite smoke flavor, mustard, paprika, and
actual bourbon, in addition to the aromatic tomato and spice blend of the original.
The Thick & Chunky variety, meanwhile, relies on dried onions and diced green and red bell
peppers to deliver on the promise.
While the Bold sauce certainly promises to kick up the flavor "a few notches," The Florida
Times-Union notes that tasters found the flavor of the sauce "zesty" rather than bold.
In a taste test, the reviewers said that the sauce tasted more like barbecue sauce: sweeter
and more tomatoey, for sure, but perhaps not deserving of the moniker proudly displayed
on the front of the can.
While some testers enjoyed it, noting that they would nevertheless serve it with more
beef in the future, others said that it just doesn't hold a candle to the original.
From "I'm lovin' it" to "Eat fresh," it seems a food company is only as good as its catchy
slogan, and Manwich has had more than its share over the years.
However, Manwich's best known slogan is:
"A sandwich is a sandwich, but a manwich is a meal."
The authors of The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising claim that this particular
slogan proves particularly catchy, thanks to its use of parallelism.
It pairs 2 clauses that are nearly equal in meter and length.
The tagline featured in '70s ads invited association between the canned sauce and perceived "manliness"
of activities, like chopping wood.
In turn, it cemented Manwich's connotation as a hearty, delicious dinner option.
These days, Manwich's website more prominently features the simpler slogan:
"Make tonight a Manwich night."
In 2009 Manwich jumped on the health-conscious bandwagon with an ad that focused on the sauce
as containing a full serving of vegetables.
The new campaign was in-line with other moves from producers of shelf-stable goods, reflecting
a real shift in its brand messaging.
The new ads even boasted a brand-new tagline:
"Manwich.
Meat Your Vegetables."
The company's VP and general manager Michael Locascio told AdWeek:
"Our focus group research showed that moms had misconceptions about Manwich's nutritional
value.
We think these new ads will give moms another reason to love Manwich — the fact that it
has a full serving of vegetables in each serving."
Of course, its health benefits aren't exactly all that they seem to be.
While it's all well and good to focus our attention on nutrition, Manwich may not be
as nutrient-rich as it claims.
While SFGate notes that the tomatoes contained in a can of Manwich do indeed contain nutrients
like vitamin C, vitamin A, and potassium, as well as the antioxidant lycopene — which
may lower risk for certain cancers — the benefits kind of end there.
Not only does a can of Manwich contain quite a bit of sugar, but the sugars come in part
from high-fructose corn syrup.
As the Cleveland Clinic notes, high-fructose corn syrup is absorbed more quickly into the
body and can lead to metabolic issues like insulin resistance, diabetes, and high blood
pressure.
Manwich sauce was designed to jazz up a simple skillet of ground beef and turn a sandwich
into a meal — but that's not the only thing it can do.
Since the can of sauce is made up of a simple combo of tomato purée and seasonings, it
can actually be used to flavor a whole variety of dishes — something Manwich is happy to
help home cooks accomplish.
Recipes on the brand website offer creative ideas, including using the can of sauce to
season taco filling, chicken wings, or even mini pizzas.
Manwich also makes a great saucy base for a casserole or a marinade for grilled meat.
While there are over 50 recipes already published on the site's database, we're sure that creative
home cooks can put their minds to the task and come up with even more delicious meal
options.
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