Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The History of Ketchup

Episode Date: October 16, 2020

It the one of the world’s most commonly used condiments. Even though it is most often associated with the United States, it has a pedigree that is extremely ancient and global. I am of course talking about ketchup. Learn more about this common condiment, and its extremely ancient and interesting history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is one of the world's most commonly used condiments. Even though it's most associated with the United States, it has a pedigree that is extremely ancient and global. I am, of course, talking about ketchup. Learn more about this common condiment, and it's extremely ancient and interesting history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Fear is the virus is trending on TikTok. Vaccines are poison.

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ketchup has become so associated with tomato-based products that most people assume that is what ketchup is. This is important because the story of ketchup starts in Southeast Asia with fish sauce. Fish sauce goes way back in Asia. The origin of it isn't totally known, but there are theories that it might have come from Chinese soy sauces, or that it may have actually come from the Mediterranean, where the ancient Romans were known to make a fish sauce very similar to what is made in places like Vietnam today. If true, it could make it one of the few innovations which went from west to east in the ancient world. That debate, however, is literally a whole other kettle of fish and isn't really relevant to the subject at hand.

Catchup. The fish sauce in Asia spread throughout the region. When British sailors arrived in the 17th century, they came across fish sauce in the Chinese called ki Chiap. It livened up their otherwise mundane diet of hardtack and pork. British sailors, who wanted this sauce back home, attempted to recreate the recipes they had come to enjoy when they were in Asia. They also anglicized the word, and it became ketchup with a sea, and later morphed into

ketchup with a K. These British ketchupes would often have different bases, including anchovies, oysters, walnuts, mushrooms, and other foods. They didn't look or taste like what we would think of as ketchup today. They would have been much closer to modern Worcestershire sauce, which has an anchovy base and isn't nearly as thick. Mushrooms became the preferred ingredient for the sauce over time, and eventually ketchup became known as a mushroom-based sauce as much as it is considered a tomato base sauce today. It was this mushroom-based sauce that was brought over to the United States in the 18th century. We know as early as 1770 there were recipes published in the colonies for mushroom ketchup and for walnut ketchup. As with so many English words, the Americans began spelling it

differently. As the Americans began spelling it, Katsup, C-A-T-S-U-P. It's here we need to start talking about the tomato. Tomatoes weren't always a popular food, especially in early America. Tomatoes are a member of the nightshade family, and because nightshade is poisonous, many people assume the same of tomatoes. In fact, the first uses of tomatoes when they were brought to Europe from South America wasn't as a food, but as an ornamental plant for gardens. Tomatoes eventually were popularized in Southern Europe before gaining popularity in England. While there were recipes for ketchup in the 18th century, which used tomatoes as an ingredient, tomato-based ketchup really hit its groove in America. There are various states listed for the first American tomato ketchup

recipe. I've seen 1801, 1812, and 1817 all given. What all of these recipes had in common is that they would often still have fish in the recipe, and they lacked the key ingredients of modern ketchup. The early tomato ketchup also had a serious problem with shelf life. Whereas the mushroom and fish ketchupes would often have long shelf lives, tomato ketchupes didn't and usually had to be consumed quickly after it was made. This was also an issue because the harvest window for tomatoes was quite narrow, lasting only about two months in August and September. In 1837, ketchup took its next big step when a man named Johann Yerkes, bottled and nationally distributed the first manufactured ketchup.

It was one of the first pre-packaged food products of its type that people could buy. It was still called Cats Up with a Sea at the time. The development of a type of ketchup that we would recognize today came in 1876 when Henry J. Hines introduced their ketchup. They had several innovations that changed ketchup forever. First, they changed the spelling to the British K of ketchup that we know today. Second, they removed the word tomato from tomato ketchup and just called it plain old ketchup. Finally, they added vinegar and sugar to the recipe, which gave the product a unique taste

and also extended its shelf life. The product that they created is one of the few foods on earth, which has a balance of all five tastes. sweet from the sugar, salty from the salt, sour from the vinegar, bitter from spices, and savory from the tomatoes. It is for this reason that some scientists have dubbed ketchup the perfect food, because it can satisfy all of your taste buds. This ketchup could also sit on a shelf for a year, which meant a great deal in the late 19th century when refrigeration hadn't yet been invented. With the success of manufactured ketchup, recipes for ketchup started disappearing from cookbooks. It was far easier to purchase than it was to cook yourself. In fact, this was the entire initial selling point of the product.

Its first slogan was, Blessed Relief for Mother and Other Women of the Household. Going into the 20th century, sales of ketchup kept groin. Heinz was selling over 5 million bottles a year near the turn of the century, and they had a near monopoly on ketchup. ketchup consumption began to drive tomato horticulture. New breeds of tomatoes were developed specifically for use in ketchup. You can still find non-Hin's ketchup sold at stores, and you might even find a few brands that use catsup spelled with a C.

Del Monte, one of the biggest competitors to Heinz, kept using the C spelling until 1988. ketchup is what is known as a democratic food, as in you can't really get a better version of it if you spend more money. Coke is another example of a democratic food. Billionaires and presidents can't buy a better Coke than the version everyone can buy. You can find artisanal mustards and other condiments, but you don't see too many artisanal ketchup. They exist, but they aren't very popular or necessarily better. While the United States is most associated with ketchup, they aren't even the top consumer of ketchup in the world. Ahead of the U.S. and per capita consumption of ketchup are Canada, Finland,

Sweden, the UK, Norway, and Austria. Hines has held on to its dominance in ketchup for almost 150 years. It has a 60% market share in the U.S. today and an 85% market share in the UK. 95% of American households claim to have a bottle of ketchup on hand in the home. If you've ever seen fancy ketchup on a label, that does have a very specific meaning. It refers to the specific gravity of the product, which is similar to density. Fancy ketchup has the highest specific gravity, meaning it will be thicker. Below fancy are grades of extra standard and standard. Something I've experienced firsthand is different uses of ketchup by different cultures.

In the U.S., you wouldn't be caught dead putting ketchup on pizza. but it's done all the time in other places. You can put ketchup on French fries, which are made out of potatoes, but not on mashed potatoes, which are also made out of potatoes. You can use ketchup on beef, but usually never on chicken. Most people would never put ketchup on spaghetti, but then again, in other countries, some people do. In countries like Australia, you will see tomato sauce at the table and restaurants. It looks like ketchup, but any ketchup connoisseur will tell you immediately that it is not ketchup. So the next time you squeeze or pounds the bottom of a bottle of ketchup, give a second thought to appreciate this perfectly balanced

democratic food with ancient and global origins. Executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James Mackala. Please remember to support the show over at patreon.com slash everything everywhere, and leave a five-star review over at Apple Podcasts. All five-star reviews will be read on the show.