Fancy Ketchup Don’t Fail Me Now

There are few words that send me into a rage like “catsup.” When I hear someone say catsup, my vision goes red and my body tenses for fight or flight. I’ve been told that ketchup and catsup are in fact the same thing, so why the two names? Is it a regional thing or an ingredient difference? As recently brought up in a heated family debate, the word ketchup alone does not necessarily means that sweet tomatoey condiment. (Luckily no one in the family uses “catsup” when describing tomato ketchup, so there was no need for me to disown any of them. Side note to this tangent: I was born into a small family and didn’t get my Aunt Metzlers until well into adulthood, but boy I am sure grateful for the Metzler sisters and getting to call them my family. I probably wouldn’t have disowned them for using “catsup.” Probably.)

The English encountered ketchup in the Malay states (Malaysia and Singapore) in the early 18th century when they arrived to set up trading posts in Penang and then formally colonized Singapore in 1819. Originating in China in the 17th century, the table sauce mixed pickled fish and spices. The Malaysian-Malay word for it was kicap or kecap. The English took this sauce with them to America where the name evolved to the ketchup we use today.

In the UK, ketchup was historically and traditionally prepared using mushrooms instead of tomatoes. In fact, from 1750 to around 1850, many variations of the sauce floated around, any thin brown sauce from mushroom base to even walnuts (green walnut ketchup was apparently a favorite of Jane Austen.) The preparation for mushroom ketchup involved packing whole mushrooms in salt, allowing the liquid from the mushrooms to be collected, and then cooking them to a boiling point in the oven. Spices such as mace and black pepper were added, and then the solids would be strained off, sometimes adding vinegar to the remaining liquid.

So when did tomatoes come into play? About a century later did we see tomatoes in a ketchup recipe. The first known published tomato ketchup recipe came to us from James Mease, a prominent horticulturist from Philadelphia in 1812. A recipe from 1817 called “Tomata Catsup” shows an early appearance of the tomato while still using anchovies to tie in its fish sauce ancestry. By the 1850’s the anchovies had been dropped from ketchup recipes and by the early 1900’s, sweeteners began appearing. Ketchup actually became popular before tomatoes on their own. The masses were more inclined to try tomatoes that had been highly processed with vinegar and spices before they would try a fresh tomato. It is important to note here that the tomato is native to the Americas, thought to be first cultivated by the Aztecs around 700 AD and the first introduced to the British in the 16th century. Highly valued for its beauty, the tomato was thought to be poisonous due in part to its resemblance to the poisonous wolf peach and botanists recognizing it as part of the nightshade family. Also at this time, the rich would use flatware made of pewter, which has a high lead content. Fun fact: when a food high in acid, like tomatoes, comes in contact with this type of flatware, the acid will cause the lead to leech out and could cause lead poisoning leading to death. The poor did not have this problem as they often dined on wooden plates. Okay, well then, how did the newly American public decide tomatoes were safe to eat? Well, there are a few theories on this one. Legend has it that Thomas Jefferson (wait, what did I miss?) had discovered in France that tomatoes were in fact delicious. He was said to have stood in front of a large crowd and bit into a tomato to show the masses they were not poisonous. Another factor would have to have been related to the Italian immigrants that had also learned tomatoes were a great component to sauces.

Jonas Yerkes is credited as the first American to bottle and sell tomato ketchup. By 1837, he was distributing on a national scale. In 1876, F. & J. Heinz launched its Heinz Tomato Catsup. By the 1880’s Henry John Heinz bought out his brother, John and cousin Fredrick Heinz, changed the name to Tomato Ketchup and changed the company name to H. & J. Heinz, both of which are the names we recognize today. When I pick up a bottle of Heinz ketchup, I have always noticed it proclaiming “57 varieties “ and wondered. Did Heinz really sell 57 varieties of ketchup?! That seems a bit extreme even considering all those mushroom and walnut ketchups of the past. As it turns out, the Heinz company introduced the slogan 57 varieties in 1896 as by then the company was selling over 60 different products. Heinz used the numbers 5 and 7, combining his lucky number with his wife’s favorite number. I feel it is important to note that in 1906, the Heinz company became the only food manufacturer to support the Pure Food & Drug Act by lobbying President Roosevelt, and thus set the precedent for other companies to maintain quality and cleanliness standards in their operations and factories. (In a tweet from Heinz Ketchup to me, they said “HJ Heinz didn’t do push-ups, he pushed the world down.” I mean, okay, kind of weird flex when I was talking about what a visionary the man was, but sure.) By 1908, Heinz ketchup became the largest tomato ketchup manufacturer in the world. 1934 saw the Heinz company start a tomato breeding company and by 1937, Heinz opened the largest ketchup kitchen in the US in Fremont, Ohio, which is still one of the major Heinz factories in operation today.

What makes a ketchup fancy, other than a satin danicin’ dress? Fancy ketchup is a popular term with Fast Food giants such as McDonalds to add a touch of class to their establishment. Fancy refers to the USDA rating Grade A. The USDA considers Grade A Catsup ( I know! I’m sorry I had to subject you to that vile spelling, please lodge a complaint with the USDA.) as that which possesses a good consistency; that is practically free from defects; that possesses a good flavor; that possesses a good finish; that has a total solids content of not less than 33 percent by weight; and scores not less than 85 points in a visual inspection list that is far too detailed to go into here.

Now in this world, there’s a lot of self-righteous hypocrites that would call ketchup bad. This is due completely to the amount of high fructose corn syrup found in the commercially produced ketchup available in today’s market. As a child, my parents tried to enforce the idea of only one sweet a day. I get it, I was a hyper child and they were earnestly trying to provide the healthiest of lifestyles as they could. But let me tell you, my dad trying to tell six year old me that ketchup counted as my sweet for the day? Well folks, there were a lot of tears and swearing. By swearing I mean that I am sure I called him a big old meany head. So the reality is that most ketchup does have almost 4 grams of sugar per tablespoon. I guess that’s why critics didn’t really love the idea of the Reagan administration’s 80’s “Ketchup is a vegetable.” Ketchup actually was never mentioned in the USDA’s Food an Nutrition Service, it was actually pickle relish, but no one eats pickle relish, right?! It was much easier to demonize the ketchup in this situation....especially since the tomato is actually fruit and not even a vegetable to begin with. (Yeah. Sorry I didn’t go into the whole fruit vs vegetable thing in my tomato origins, but like, it’s a fruit guys. If you want to get super technical, it’s actually a berry.)

Canada is the world leader when it comes to consuming ketchup, with salsa taking the number one sales spot for the US. The average American eats 71 pounds of ketchup every year....someone else can do the math on how much sugar that is based on what I mentioned earlier. Heinz alone sells about one thousand bottle of ketchup every minute across the globe. In Sweden, ketchup is a popular topping on pasta and in Japan it is not uncommon to find ketchup on rice. A such ubiquitous pantry item, one might not consider the vast history behind the condiment. I hope this has given you some insight into the noble ketchup. Just please, please, do me a favor and never ever call it catsup, okay?