I concur! Branston beans have in my opinion a thicker consistency with a deeper flavour and creamier mouth feel. After being converted to Branston, Heinz tastes like metallic orange water with overly firm beans.
I've tried it once and it was disgustingly sweet. I'm unsure if the praise is just a meme or it's another entry on the long list of typical german food I don't like despite living there.
Hela ketchup is just really fucking sweet for some reason. It is also one of the worse Gewürzketchups I had, the supermarket brands usually are way less sweet and have an actual difference in the flavour of their different products.
I only buy fancy shit now and just eat less of it, like stokes and a couple of local ones.
All that own brand stuff is just tomato juice concentrate with a load of thickening agents plus sugar and crap to make it taste like something. And Heinz was always overly sweet crap anyway.
It's a bit of a long drive to Aldis for some of us, I don't know which country the closest one is in. Most people probably just buy what they grew up on. For me that's Felix so I guess you could say it's European, but Orkla is publicly traded so it sorta loses all meaning.
Fun fact time! Heinz originated in Pittsburgh and used to have a massive factory built in the 1910's, and when it shut down they eventually renovated it into apartments. The buildings are now all named after what they once produced there - Bean Building, Meat Building, Cereal Building, Reservoir Building, and Shipping Building.
It's rumored that the Meat Building has a vibrant gay community.
I absolutely love Hela but I honestly don't see how anyone could think it could be a substitute for tomato ketchup. The two aren't even remotely the same thing, except maybe in consistency.