A bottle of ketchup made by H. J. Heinz Company, the largest distributor of ketchup in the world

Ketchup (also catsup, tomato sauce, or red sauce) is a sweet-and-tangy food sauce, typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, a sweetener, and assorted seasonings and spices. The sweetener is most commonly sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. Seasonings vary by recipe, but commonly include onions, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, and celery.^[1] Ketchup is often used as a condiment with various, usually hot, dishes including french fries (chips), hamburgers, sandwiches and grilled or fried meat. Ketchup is sometimes used as a basis or ingredient for other sauces and dressings.

History[link]

A bottle of Geo. Watkins mushroom ketchup

In the 1690s the Chinese mixed together a concoction of pickled fish and spices and called it (in the Amoy dialect) kôe-chiap or kê-chiap (鮭�, Mandarin guī zhī) meaning the brine of pickled fish (鮭, carp; �, juice) or shellfish.^[2]

By the early 18th century, the table sauce had made it to the Malay states (present day Malaysia and Singapore), where it was discovered by British explorers, and by 1740, it had become a British staple.^{[citation needed]} The Malay word for the sauce was kĕchap. That word evolved into the English word "ketchup".^[3]

Many variations of ketchup were created, but the tomato-based version did not appear until about a century after other types. By 1801, a recipe for tomato ketchup was created by Sandy Addison and was later printed in an American cookbook, the Sugar House Book.^[4]

1. Get [the tomatoes] quite ripe on a dry day, squeeze them with your hands till reduced to a pulp, then put half a pound of fine salt to one hundred tomatoes, and boil them for two hours.
2. Stir them to prevent burning.
3. While hot press them through a fine sieve, with a silver spoon till nought but the skin remains, then add a little mace, 3 nutmegs, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper to taste.
4. Boil over a slow fire till quite thick, stir all the time.
5. Bottle when cold.
6. One hundred tomatoes will make four or five bottles and keep good for two or three years.

The salt in this recipe, which served as a preservative, yields an extremely salty taste. This recipe is important because tomato was not widely accepted by people in North America in the early 1800s. Many people believed, incorrectly, that tomatoes were poisonous.

James Mease published another recipe in 1812. In 1824, a ketchup recipe using tomatoes appeared in The Virginia Housewife (an influential 19th-century cookbook written by Mary Randolph, Thomas Jefferson's cousin). American cooks also began to sweeten ketchup in the 19th century.^[5]

As the century progressed, tomato ketchup began its ascent in popularity in the United States. Ketchup was popular long before fresh tomatoes were.^[6] Many Americans continued to question whether it was safe to eat raw tomatoes. However, they were much less hesitant to eat tomatoes as part of a highly processed product that had been cooked and infused with vinegar and spices.^[6]

Tomato ketchup was sold locally by farmers. A man named Jonas Yerks (or Yerkes) is believed to have been the first man to make tomato ketchup a national phenomenon. By 1837, he had produced and distributed the condiment nationally.^{[citation needed]} Shortly thereafter, other companies followed suit. F. & J. Heinz launched their tomato ketchup in 1876.^[7] Heinz tomato ketchup was advertised: "Blessed relief for Mother and the other women in the household!", a slogan which alluded to the lengthy and onerous process required to produce tomato ketchup in the home^[8] .

The Webster's Dictionary of 1913 defined ‘catchup’ as: “table sauce made from mushrooms, tomatoes, walnuts, etc. [Also written as ketchup].�

Modern ketchup emerged in the early years of the 20th century, out of a debate over the use of sodium benzoate as a preservative in condiments. Harvey W. Wiley, the "father" of the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S., challenged the safety of benzoate which was banned in the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. In response, entrepreneurs including Henry J. Heinz, pursued an alternative recipe that eliminated the need for that preservative.^[1]

Prior to Heinz (and his fellow innovators), commercial tomato ketchups of that time were watery and thin, in part due to the use of unripe tomatoes, which were low in pectin. They had less vinegar than modern ketchups; by pickling ripe tomatoes, the need for benzoate was eliminated without spoilage or degradation in flavor. But the changes driven by the desire to eliminate benzoate also produced changes that some experts (such as Andrew F. Smith^[9]) believe were key to the establishment of tomato ketchup as the dominant American condiment.

Later innovations[link]

In fast food outlets, ketchup is often dispensed in small packets that hold ketchup inside. Diners tear the side or top and squeeze the ketchup out of the ketchup packets. In 2010, Heinz began offering an alternate squeeze and dip cup intended to offer a cleaner method of dispensing the product.^[10]

Previously fast food outlets dispensed ketchup from pumps into paper cups. This method has made a resurgence in the first decade of the 21st century with cost and environmental concerns increasing of individual packets.

In October 2000, Heinz introduced colored ketchup products called EZ Squirt, which eventually included green, purple, pink, orange, teal, and blue.^[11] These products were made by adding food coloring to the traditional ketchup. As of January 2006^[update] these products have been discontinued.^[12]

Terminology[link]

The term used for the sauce varies. Ketchup (sometimes spelled catsup in American English) is the dominant term in American English and Canadian English. In these dialects, tomato sauce refers to pasta sauce, and is not a synonym for ketchup. Tomato sauce is more common in Commonwealth English (e.g., Australia, India, New Zealand and South Africa). In British English, the two terms are interchangeable. Red sauce is used in Welsh English, Scottish English, Irish English and some parts of England, such as the Black Country.

The etymology of the word ketchup is uncertain, with multiple competing theories.^[13]

China theory[link]

The Chinese characters representing the original words-phrase ketchup are disputed. The two primary theories as to the word's original Chinese orthography either alludes to a fish sauce or to a pickled tomato sauce.

Fish sauce[link]

The China theory is that the word derives from one of two words from the Fujian region of coastal southern China: "kôe-chiap" (in the Xiamen accent) or "kê-chiap" (in the Zhangzhou accent). Both of these words (鮭�, kôe-chiap and kê-chiap) come from the Amoy dialect of China, where it meant the brine of pickled fish (鮭, carp; �, juice) or shellfish.^[2] There are citations of "koe-chiap" in the Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of the Amoy (London; Trudner) from 1873, defined as "brine of pickled fish or shell-fish."

Tomato sauce[link]

An alternative Chinese theory expounded in certain dictionaries^[14] states that the word "ketchup" derives from a Chinese word composed of two characters (茄�, Cantonese (Jyutping): ke2 zap1, Minnan/Southern Hokkien: ga1 zap7, Teochew: giê5 zab4/kiê5 tsap4, corresponding to Mandarin (Pinyin) ji� zhī) based on Southern Chinese dialects, which means "tomato sauce." The first character (茄), meaning "eggplant", is also the root for the word "tomato" 番茄 (lit. "southern foreigner's eggplant") in Mandarin and Cantonese or 紅茄 (lit. "red eggplant") in Taiwanese.

Some have stated (without authority) that at the relevant time tomatoes were unknown in China; however, the first recorded mention of "tomato" in China is Zhao Han's (赵函) "Zhi Pin"("��") (1617) which states that the tomato was introduced into China by missionaries in the late 16th century. The second character (�) means "juice" or "sauce". Pronunciations of this word vary by region, but their similarities to the English "ketchup" can be noticed.

Malay theory[link]

Ketchup may have^[3][14] entered the English language from the Malay word kicap (pron. "kichap", also spelled kecap, ketjap), originally meaning "fish sauce",^[14] which itself may be^[14] a loan from Chinese terms above.

In Indonesian cuisine, which is similar to Malay, the term kecap or ketjap refers to savory sauces. Two main types are well known in their cuisine: kecap asin which translates to 'salty kecap' in Bahasa Indonesia (a salty soy sauce) and kecap manis or literally 'sweet kecap' in Bahasa Indonesia (a sweet soy sauce that is a mixture of soy sauce with brown sugar, molasses, garlic, ginger, anise, coriander and a bay leaf reduced over medium heat until rather syrupy). A third type, kecap ikan, meaning "fish kecap" is fish sauce similar to the Thai "Nam Pla" or the Philippine "Patis." It is not, however, soy-based.

European-Arabic theory[link]

American anthropologist E.N. Anderson claimed that ketchup is a cognate of the French escaveche, meaning "food in sauce".^[13] The word also exists in Spanish and Portuguese forms as escabeche, "a sauce for pickling", which culinary historian Karen Hess traced back to Arabic Kabees, or "pickling with vinegar".^[13] The term was anglicized to caveach, a word first attested in the late 17th century, at the same time as ketchup.^[13]

Early uses in English[link]

The word entered the English language in Britain during the late 17th century, appearing in print as catchup (1690) and later as ketchup (1711). The following is a list of early quotations collected by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Blue Label Tomato Ketchup advertisement from 1898

• 1690, B. E., A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew
  • Catchup: a high East-India Sauce.
• 1711, Charles Lockyer, An Account of the Trade in India 128
  • Soy comes in Tubbs from Japan, and the best Ketchup from Tonquin; yet good of both sorts are made and sold very cheap in China.
• 1730, Jonathan Swift, A Panegyrick on the Dean Wks. 1755 IV. I. 142
  • And, for our home-bred British cheer, Botargo, catsup, and caveer.
• 1748, Sarah Harrison, The Housekeeper's Pocket-Book and Compleat Family Cook. i. (ed. 4) 2,
  • I therefore advise you to lay in a Store of Spices, ... neither ought you to be without ... Kitchup, or Mushroom Juice.
• 1751, Mrs. Hannah Glasse, Cookery Bk. 309
  • It will taste like foreign Catchup.
• 1817, George Gordon Byron, Beppo viii,
  • Buy in gross ... Ketchup, Soy, Chili~vinegar, and Harvey.
• 1832, Vegetable Substances Used for the Food of Man 333
  • One ... application of mushrooms is ... converting them into the sauce called Catsup.
• 1840, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1849) 91/1
  • Some lamb chops (breaded, with plenty of ketchup).
• 1845, Eliza Acton, Modern Cookery v. (1850) 136 (L.)
  • Walnut catsup.
• 1862, Macmillan's Magazine. Oct. 466
  • He found in mothery catsup a number of yellowish globular bodies.
• 1874, Mordecai C. Cooke, Fungi; Their Nature, Influence and Uses 89
  • One important use to which several ... fungi can be applied, is the manufacture of ketchup.

The spelling catsup seems to have appeared first from the pen of Jonathan Swift, in 1730.

"Fancy" ketchup[link]

Some ketchup in the U.S. is labeled "Fancy". This is a USDA grade, relating to specific gravity. Fancy ketchup has a higher tomato solid concentration than other USDA grades.^[15]

Nutrition[link]

The following table compares the nutritional value of ketchup with raw ripe tomatoes and salsa, based on information from the USDA Food Nutrient Database.^[16]

Ketchup has health benefits which are offset by the salt and sugar content.^[17] Ketchup is a source of lycopene, an antioxidant which may help prevent some forms of cancer. This is particularly true of the organic brands of ketchup, which have three times as much lycopene.^[18] Ketchup, much like marinara sauce and other cooked tomato foods, yields higher levels of lycopene per serving because cooking makes lycopene in tomatoes more bio-available.

In May 2010, Hunt's stopped using high fructose corn syrup in its ketchup products in direct response to consumer demand.

Viscosity[link]

Transferring ketchup between plastic bottles

Tomato ketchup is a pseudoplastic — or "shear thinning" substance — which can make it difficult to pour from a glass bottle. Often, the neck of the bottle will appear to be blocked. A common method to getting ketchup out of the bottle involves inverting the bottle and shaking it or hitting the bottom with the heel of the hand, which causes the ketchup to flow rapidly. A technique known widely among caterers^{[citation needed]} involves inverting the bottle and forcefully tapping its upper neck with two fingers (index and middle finger together). Specifically, with the Heinz ketchup product, one taps the 57 circle on the neck. This helps the ketchup flow by applying the correct shearing force.^{[19][dead link]} These techniques work because of how pseudoplastic fluids behave: their viscosity (resistance to flow) decreases with increasing shear rate. The faster the ketchup is sheared (by shaking or tapping the bottle), the more fluid it becomes. After the shear is removed the ketchup thickens to its original viscosity.

Politics[link]

In 1981, the United States Congress, under the Reagan administration, ordered the United States Department of Agriculture to issue new standards for federally financed school lunch programs, which would enable schools to economize; one of the USDA's proposals was to classify ketchup as a vegetable. The suggestion was widely ridiculed and the proposal was dropped.^[20]

See also[link]

Food portal

• Banana ketchup
• Heinz Tomato Ketchup
• Mustard (condiment)
• Shelf stable food
• Tomato paste
• Tomato purée
• Tomato sauce

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up ketchup in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ketchup

• Ketchup: King Of Condiments – WBGU-PBS local documentary
• 21CFR155.194 – USA official standard for ketchup

Las Ketchup is a Spanish pop group, founded by flamenco producer, Manuel Ruiz. The group is best known for the 2002 song, "The Ketchup Song" (Aserejé), which sold over 7 million singles.

Career[link]

Las Ketchup was originally discovered by the flamenco producer Manuel “Queco� Ruiz, who signed them to his newly formed independent Córdoba-based label Shaketown Music, which he ran together with Manuel Illán.^[1] They recorded the songs “Asereje� and “Kusha Las Payas" with Ruiz producing, and shopped the demo to a number of large record companies with the intention of securing a distribution deal.^[1] The demo was received by Columbia/Sony A&R Javier Portugués and director Raúl López who, on listening the recordings, stared at each other in delight exclaiming, "Wow, this is fantastic!".^[1] At first the intention was to arrange a distribution deal with Shaketown Music but on hearing the song they realised its international potential and so negotiated for Las Ketchup to sign with Sony.^[1]

In the summer of 2002 they had a major flamenco Europop fusion hit with "Aserejé" (released as "The Ketchup Song" in the UK and other countries), which reached the top of the charts in many countries including Spain, Portugal, Colombia, UK, Italy, Greece, France, Finland, Turkey, Syria, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Philippines, Switzerland, Germany, Romania, and Australia. However, it failed to hit the Top 40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Still worldwide, the trio became instant rivals to another Spanish female trio, Lunae, who released their debut single in Europe at the same time in 2003. The title and part of the lyrics were in Spanish. The hit also had an accompanying dance.

The group re-released the Ketchup Song later in the same year, with a new video, as a Christmas song.

The name of the group is a reference to their father Juan Muñoz, a flamenco guitarist known as El Tomate (The Tomato). This also explains why their debut album carried the title Las hijas del Tomate (Daughters of Tomato).

In 2006 they were joined by Rocío, their fourth sister, to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The girls have said themselves that Rocío has always been a member of Las Ketchup, but she wasn't in the photographs, videos or performances because she was pregnant.

The group sold over 12 million copies with the first album, but the second did not achieve the same success.

Recent events[link]

Las Ketchup came back as a 4-girl group, with a new album titled Un Blodymary (Bloody Mary). Their long absence was due to their writing songs for the album and Pilar's pregnancy. The album release was delayed until the beginning of 2006. They planned to release 1 million copies and their producer "Queco", who also produced and wrote their worldwide single "Asereje", indicated that this album retains their original sound.^{[citation needed]} Their first single from the CD was also titled "Un Blodymary". This song was the Spanish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The song did not perform as well as expected, ending 21st with only 18 points.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Hijas del Tomate (2002)
• Un Blodymary (2006)

Singles[link]

Awards[link]

• 2002 'Ondas awards'

– Best New Artist/group

• 2004 Billboard Latinos awards

– Best pop album from new generation ("Las hijas del Tomate")

– Most tropical-salsa song played by Duo or Group ("The Ketchup Song" (Aserejé)

• 2003 Latin Grammy Award

– Best Pop Album By a Duo or Group with Vocals Las hijas del Tomate (Nominated, lost to Bacilos Caraluna.)

• 2003 Record Fair MIDEM (Cannes)

– Best New Artist/group

• 2003 Amigo Awards

– Best New Group

– Best New Artist

• 2004 Record fair MIDEM (Cannes)

– Breakers of borders (Best-selling Album out of its country and inside of Europe with "Las hijas del Tomate") Song)

Parody[link]

In 2002, the German comedian Elmar Brandt wrote (using the tune of Aserejé) a Gerhard Schröder parody called "Der Steuersong" (The Tax Song)^[18] for the radio program The Gerd Show.

In 2002, a satirical version to the tune of Aserejé by El Groupo Mayonessa circulated in Gibraltar prior to the referendum on a proposal of joint sovereignty, entitled 'Vota Que No, Que No, Que No No No'^[19]

See also[link]

• Son de Sol

References[link]

External links[link]

• Unofficial Las Ketchup Site
• Las Ketchup at AskMen.com
• Las Ketchup at Answers.com