KETCHUP, also spelled catsup, is one of those products that sounds distinctly American, poured generously on burgers, fries and other fast food. But in fact, this ubiquitous condiment is anything but American in its origins or in those nationalities that love it the most. It is a truly a global product, its origins shaped by centuries of trade. And different cultures have adopted a wide variety of surprising uses for the condiment we know as ketchup today.
The Origins Of ‘Ke-Chiap’
Although ketchup is defined by Merriam-Webster as a “seasoned pureed condiment usually made from tomatoes,” in the past it has been concocted from a wide variety of ingredients.
China was likely the original source of the condiment with something that sounded like “ke-chiap.” It likely originated as a fish-based sauce many centuries ago, a condiment akin to the many fermented sauces one finds throughout southeast Asia. It was primarily used as a seasoning for cooking.
From there it made its way to the Malay Peninsula and to Singapore, where British colonists first encountered what locals called “kecap” in the 18th century. Like soy sauce, it was deemed exotic and perked up what was a comparatively bland British cuisine, such as roasts and fried foods.
English cookbooks of the era reveal how it was soon transformed into a condiment made with other bases such as mushrooms or pickled walnuts, rather than only fish. E Smith’s “Compleat Housewife” includes an anchovy-based “katchup” with wine and spices, more akin to Worcestershire sauce than what we think of as ketchup.
A more significant transformation took place in the early 19th century in the US when it was made with tomatoes, sweetened, soured with vinegar and spiced with cloves, allspice, nutmeg and ginger – pretty much the modern-day recipe.
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The first published recipe for tomato ketchup was written in 1812 by scientist and horticulturalist James Mease in his “Archives of Useful Knowledge, Vol. 2.”
Heinz Makes It ‘American’
Heinz, the American company perhaps most associated with ketchup, didn’t get into the game until 1876, seven years after Henry John Heinz set up the company to sell horseradish using his mother’s recipe. After his initial company went bankrupt, he launched a new one and began bottling tomato “ketchup,” spelled that way to distinguish it from other catsup brands.
From here, ketchup took on a uniquely American character and began its career as not only a universal condiment but a mass-produced brand-name article of trade that could last indefinitely on the shelf, be shipped around the world and used in ways never imagined by its creators.
Like so many other products, it became emblematic of American culture: quick, easy, convenient and too sweet but also adaptable to any gastronomic context – and a bit addictive. Ketchup became the quick fix that seemed to make any dish perk up instantly, from meatballs to scrambled eggs.
In a sense, it also became a “mother sauce,” meaning that one can concoct other sauces with ketchup as the base. Barbecue sauce usually uses ketchup, as does cocktail sauce for shrimp, with the addition of horseradish. Think also of Russian dressing or Thousand Island. Or consider various recipes that are often ketchup laden, like chili.
How The World Consumes Ketchup
While ketchup is indeed an American staple – 97 percent of households have a bottle on hand – it’s very popular around the world, where the condiment is used in a lot of surprising ways.
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Although practically sacrilegious in Italy, ketchup is often squirted on pizza in places as far flung as Trinidad, Lebanon and Poland. Similarly, ketchup is even used as a substitute for tomato sauce in pasta dishes in countries such as in Japan, which created a catsup-based dish called spaghetti napolitan/naporitan.
In the Philippines there’s a popular banana ketchup that was invented when tomatoes ran short during World War II but otherwise looks and tastes like tomato ketchup. In Germany the local favourite is a curry powder-spiked ketchup that goes on sausages sold by street vendors everywhere.
Without doubt the most intriguing recipe comes from Canada, where people enjoy ketchup cake, a sweet red frosted layer cake that is much better than it sounds.
The modern variety of ketchup even returned home to China to become the base of many Chinese or perhaps more properly Chinese-American dishes like sweet and sour chicken. Ketchup is sometimes a stand in for tamarind in pad thai.
But a striking recipe dates to the Great Depression, when people without money would ask for a cup of hot water — to which they would add some free ketchup and thus have a meal of tomato soup.
Ken Albala is a professor of history at University of the Pacific. This article originally appeared on The Conversation and is republished here under the Creative Commons Licence.