Ketchup

This article is about the condiment; for the singers, see Las Ketchup.

Ketchup (or less commonly catsup) is a popular condiment, usually made with ripened tomatoes. The basic ingredients in modern ketchup are tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, salt, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon. Onions, celery, and other vegetables are frequent additions. In the UK, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, Iran and New Zealand, their vinegar-less variant of ketchup is commonly referred to as tomato sauce or red gravy.

Ketchup has not always been made out of tomatoes. It started out as a general term for sauce, typically made of mushrooms or fish brine with herbs and spices. Mushroom ketchup is still available in some countries, such as the UK. Some popular early main ingredients include blueberry, anchovy, oyster, lobster, walnut, kidney bean, cucumber, cranberry, lemon, and grape.

The largest major commercial distributors of ketchup in the United States are the H. J. Heinz Company, ConAgra Foods (manufacturer of Hunt's brand), Del Monte Foods, Birds Eye Foods (manufacturer of Brooks Ketchup) and Red Gold.

History

There are several theories on the origin of the word "ketchup". Some claim the word may originate from the Cantonese dialect (Chinese) phrase ke-tsiap ( 茄汁 ) which literally means eggplant sauce. The Cantonese phrase for tomato is fan-ke ( 番茄 ), which means "foreign eggplant". The Oxford English Dictionary states that in the Chinese Amoy dialect, "kôechiap" or "kê-tsiap" signifies "brine of pickled fish or shell-fish" (Douglas Chinese Dict. 46/1, 242/1). The word may also have come from the Malay kchap (in Dutch spellling "ketjap"), a fish sauce that does not contain tomatoes. The Malay word means taste.

The general consensus is that ketchup indeed originated in Malaysia, and that this sauce contained brine of pickled fish and spices, as opposed to tomatoes. It is also believed that ketchup in this form existed before the Chinese and Malaysians were introduced to the tomato, some time immediately after 1521.

It is further believed that English and Dutch sailors brought with them the Asian ketchup to Europe, where, to this basic, fish sauce was added many flavourings, such as mushrooms, anchovies and nuts.

Whether also the tomato was added to ketchup in England is not certain, and it's most likely that this important event first happened in the USA. By 1801 a recipe for tomato ketchup was indeed printed in an American cook book.

In the Sugar House Book, published in 1801, a ketchup recipe was given:

Get 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.
''Add Bayn's Guts
Stir them to prevent burning.
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.
Boil over a slow fire till quite thick, stir all the time.
Bottle when cold.
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 believed it was poisonous.

The Virginia Housewife (1824), an influential 19th-century cookbook written by Mary Randolph, Thomas Jefferson's cousin, also had a tomato ketchup recipe.

As the century progressed, tomato ketchup began its ascent in popularity in the USA, influenced by the American enthusiasm for tomatoes. Tomato ketchup was sold locally, by farmers. A man named Jonas Yerks (or Yerkes) is believed to be the first man to have made tomato ketchup a national phenomenon. By 1837 he had produced and distributed the condiment nationally, and the demand was evidently there. Shortly, other companies followed suit. F. & J. Heinz launched their tomato ketchup in 1876.

Heinz tomato ketchup was advertised: "Blessed relief for Brother and the other men in the household!"

The Webster's Dictionary of 1913 defined "catchup" as a "table sauce made from mushrooms, tomatoes, walnuts, etc. also 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 http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html. Harvey W. Wiley, the "father" of the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S., challenged the safety of benzoate. In response, entrepreneurs, particularly Henry J. Heinz, pursued an alternative recipe that eliminated the need for that preservative.

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 were also less vinegary 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 http://www.press.uillinois.edu/f01/smith.html) believe were key to the establishment of tomato ketchup as the dominant American condiment.

Until Heinz, most commercial ketchups appealed to two of the basic tastes: bitterness and saltiness. But the switch to ripe tomatoes and more tomato solids added savoriness, and the major increase in the concentration of vinegar added sourness and pungency to the range of sensations experienced during its consumption. And because the elimination of benzoate was also accompanied by a doubling of the sweetness of ketchup, a balanced stimulation of all five types of taste buds produced an almost gestalt effect.

In the past, ketchup was produced from fresh tomatoes after harvesting. Vacuum evaporation made it possible to turn tomatoes into a very thick tomato paste that is easy to store at room temperature. This enables a factory to produce ketchup throughout the year.

Later innovations

Originally, ketchup was stored in glass bottles and was difficult to pour. While glass containers protected ketchup from moisture and oxidization, the physical properties of ketchup make it difficult to pour smoothly from a glass bottle. Without vigorous shaking, ketchup tends to stick to the inside of the bottle. Physicists explain this by noting that ketchup is a thixotropic power-law fluid. The introduction of polyethylene squeeze bottles made it easier to get the ketchup out. Today, glass ketchup bottles are seldom seen outside restaurants in the US, as the plastic squeeze bottles are overwhelmingly more popular with consumers there.

In October, 2000, Heinz introduced colored ketchup products, which eventually included green, purple, pink, orange, teal, and blue.http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2003-04-07-blue-ketchup_x.htm These popular products were made from adding food coloring to the traditional ketchup. Its introduction, in smaller soft plastic squeeze bottles http://www.ezsquirt.com/, led to a 12% increase as of 2004 in ketchup consumption in homes with children.http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html These products (as of January 2006) have been discontinued.http://www.heinz.com/Consumer_faq.aspx

A 20th century grape ketchup recipe

This recipe is taken from The Inglenook Cook Book, published in 1906:

Take 1 quart of grape juice, 1 pint of vinegar, 1 pound of sugar, and ground cloves to suit your taste. Boil until quite thick.

This book also teaches its readers how to make tomato and cucumber ketchup.

Nutrition

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

Nutrient (per 100 g)	Ketchup	Low sodium Ketchup	Tomatoes, year-round	USDA commodity salsa	La Victoria Salsa Brava, Hot
Energy	100 kcal 419 kJ	104 kcal 435 kJ	18 kcal 75 kJ	36 kcal 150 kJ	40 kcal 170 kJ
Water	68.33 g	66.58 g	94.50 g	89.70 g	88.67 g
Protein	1.74 g	1.52 g	0.88 g	1.50 g	1.36 g
Fats	0.49 g	0.36 g	0.20 g	0.20 g	1.11 g
Carbohydrates	25.78 g	27.28g	3.92 g	7.00 g	6.16 g
Sodium	1110 mg	20 mg	5 mg	430 mg	648 mg
Vitamin C	15.1 mg	15.1 mg	12.7 mg	4 mg	7.2 mg
Lycopene	17.0 mg	19.0 mg	2.6 mg	n/a	n/a

Ketchup packets from fast-food restaurants:

Restaurant	Packet size	Energy	Sodium	Carbo- hydrates
Arby's	9 g	10 kcal (42 kJ)	100 mg	2 g
Burger King	10 g	10 kcal (42 kJ)	127 mg	3 g
Jack in the Box	9 g	10 kcal (42 kJ)	105 mg	2 g

While it can hardly be considered a health food, ketchup has been found to a be beneficial source of lycopene, an antioxident which fights some forms of cancer. This is particurly true of the organic brands of ketchup. In fact, organic brands were found to contain three times as much lycopene as non-organic brands.

Viscosity (or how to get it out of the bottle)

Ketchup (the tomato variety) is a thixotropic substance, which often results in difficulties of removing it from the glass bottles that much ketchup is distributed in. Often a glass bottle will appear to be blocked. The "common" method (inverting the bottle and hitting the bottom with the heel of the hand) can often cause the ketchup to suddenly gain enough momentum to begin flowing, and due to the shear stress on a thixotropic substance, lose viscosity, and therefore flow even more, causing a significant amount of ketchup to flow out of the bottle (making a mess). Some people, seeking to avoid this problem, remove the product with the aid of a butter knife thrust into the opening. But this technique is generally slow and inefficient.

There is a better technique that avoids both the thixotropic effect and the need for an inefficient tool. Known widely among caterers, it 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 correct G-forces. ^* This problem has been solved with the introduction of plastic "squeezy" bottles. More recently, Heinz have introduced an "upside-down" bottle, which has the cap on the bottom so that the ketchup can be squirted out easily, with less effort or mess.

Another effective indirect technique to clear a clogged neck is to securely grip it and swing the bottle so that the contents are forced to the bottom due to the reaction force arising from centripetal motion (by Newton's III). The bottle can then be tipped slightly to allow the ketchup to slowly pour out. Any attempt to invert the bottle at this point can lead to another blockage.

Etymology

Early uses in English

The word entered the English language in England during the late seventeenth century, appearing in print as catchup and later as ketchup. The following is a list of early quotations collected by the Oxford English Dictionary.

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 Jappan, 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.

The China connection

The most popular theory is that the word ketchup was derived from "koe-chiap" or "ke-tsiap" in the Amoy dialect of China, where it meant the brine of pickled fish or shellfish. Some people prefer the Malayan word "kechap" (spelled ketjap by the Dutch), which may have come from the Chinese in the first place. And in some time in the late seventeenth century, the name and some samples might have arrived in England where it appeared in print as "catchup" in 1690 and then as "ketchup" in 1711. These names stuck with the British, who quickly appropriated them for their own pickled condiments of anchovies or oysters.

The exact Chinese characters for kôechiap have been disputed:

Theory 1: "ketchup" means "茄汁": "茄" is the Chinese character for "eggplant" or a shortened form of "tomato" (蕃茄). "Ketchup" means "茄汁" or "tomato juice (sauce)".
- Pronunciations in modern Taiwanese dialect (mainly Hokkien dialect): Kio-chiap (kio as in "kyo" in tokyo, chiap as in "chap" in chaplain but with the added "i"). The word derives from two words "Kio" taken from "Ang Mor Kio" meaning tomatoes in Hokkien dialect. Chiap simply means juice or sauce or gravy. Therefore Kio-chiap means tomato(kio) sauce(chiap).
- Pronunciations in modern Cantonese is Kher-Chap (Kher as "khe" in Khmer Rouge of Pol Pot, Chap as in "chap" in chaplain). Similar to the Taiwanese, the word derives from the meaning of two words, Kher, taken from "Fan Kher" meaning tomatoes in Cantonese and chap meaning juice or sauce or gravy. Therefore Kher-Chap means tomato sauce.
Theory 2: "ketchup" means "鮭汁": "鮭" is the Chinese character for "salmon" (鮭魚), or more generically, "fish". Therefore, "ketchup" means "鮭汁" or "fish sauce".
- Pronunciations in modern Taiwanese dialect: 鮭(kôe) 汁(chiap)
- Pronunciations in modern Cantonese: 鮭(gwai1) 汁(jap1)

Ketchup and U.S. politics

In 1981, congress ordered the United States Department of Agriculture to issue new standards for federally financed school lunch programs, which would enable schools to economise; one of the USDA's proposals was to classify ketchup as a vegetable. The suggestion was widely ridiculed and the proposal was killed. ^*

In 2004, presidential challenger John Kerry's ties to H. J. Heinz Company through his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, led some supporters of George W. Bush to create an alternative called W Ketchup http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3882023.stm. According to them, W stands for George Washington; others suspect "W" more likely refers to Bush's middle initial, which is often used as his nickname.

External links

Consumer Frequently Asked Questions from the Heinz website
The Ketchup Conundrum, a September 2004 New Yorker article
Ketchup Wonderland
USDA Food Nutrient database
BloggingKetchup A great resource for Ketchup Fans
Fast Food Facts: ketchup nutrition values
Fresh vegetable storage
Heinz unveils new blue ketchup
Heinz, Hunt's battle over who's first with upside-down ketchup bottles
The "鮭汁" theory (in Japanese)
Ketchup for the "Currywurst" The famous sausage from Germany
"Did the Reagan-era USDA really classify ketchup as a vegetable?" article on The Straight Dope website
"Trickle-Down Vegetables" More on Reagan classifying Ketchup as a vegetable
Technical explanation of best way to pour ketchup from a traditional narrow-neck bottle
How to Pour Ketchup correctly.

Early recipes

Other non-commercial recipes

A vegetarian low-salt, low-sugar formula taken from The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook

References

Condiments | Processed tomato products | Matter | Soft matter

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