Ketchup or catsup is a

table condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to impart a specific flavor, to enhance the flavor, or to complement the dish. A table condiment or table sauce is more specifically a condiment that is served separat ...

with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used

egg white Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms arou ...

s, mushrooms, oysters, grapes,

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

s, or walnuts, among other ingredients. Tomato ketchup is made from tomatoes, sugar, and vinegar, with

seasoning Seasoning is the process of supplementing food via herbs, spices, salts, and/or sugar, intended to enhance a particular flavour. General meaning Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings". Ho ...

s and spices. The spices and flavors vary, but commonly include onions,

allspice Allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or pimento, is the dried unripe berry (botany), berry of ''Pimenta dioica'', a Canopy (forest), midcanopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, ...

coriander Coriander (;

cloves Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, s ...

cumin Cumin ( or , or Article title
) (''Cuminum cyminum'') is a

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...

, and mustard, and sometimes include celery,

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

, or

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...

. The market leader in the United States (60% market share) and the United Kingdom (82%) is Heinz Tomato Ketchup. Tomato ketchup is most often used as a condiment to dishes that are usually served hot and are fried or greasy:

french fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

and other

potato dishes The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United S ...

, hamburgers, hot dogs,

chicken tender Chicken fingers (also known as chicken goujons, chicken strips, chicken tenders, chicken nuggets or chicken fillets) are chicken meat prepared from the pectoralis minor muscles of the animal. These strips of white meat are located on either side ...

hot sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

es, meat pies, cooked eggs, and grilled or fried meat. Ketchup is sometimes used as the basis for, or as one ingredient in, other sauces and dressings, and the flavor may be replicated as an additive flavoring for snacks, such as potato chips.

History

Mushroom ketchup

In the United Kingdom, ketchup was historically prepared with mushrooms as a primary ingredient, rather than tomatoes. Ketchup recipes began to appear in British and then American cookbooks in the 18th century. The term ketchup first appeared in 1682. In the United States,

mushroom ketchup Mushroom ketchup is a style of ketchup that is prepared with mushrooms as its primary ingredient. Originally, ketchup in the United Kingdom was prepared with mushrooms as a primary ingredient, instead of tomato, the main ingredient in contemporar ...

dates back to at least 1770, and was prepared by British colonists in the Thirteen Colonies.

Tomato ketchup

Many variations of ketchup were created, but the tomato-based version did not appear until around a century after other types. An early recipe for "Tomata Catsup" from 1817 includes anchovies:

# Gather a gallon of fine, red, and full ripe tomatas; mash them with one pound of salt. # Let them rest for three days, press off the juice, and to each quart add a quarter of a pound of anchovies, two ounces of shallots, and an ounce of ground black pepper. # Boil up together for half an hour, strain through a sieve, and put to it the following spices; a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same of allspice and ginger, half an ounce of nutmeg, a
drachm The dram (alternative British spelling drachm; apothecary symbol ʒ or ℨ; abbreviated dr) Earlier version first published in ''New English Dictionary'', 1897.National Institute of Standards and Technology (October 2011). Butcher, Tina; Cook, ...
of coriander seed, and half a drachm of cochineal. # Pound all together; let them simmer gently for twenty minutes, and strain through a bag: when cold, bottle it, adding to each bottle a wineglass of brandy. It will keep for seven years.

By the mid-1850s, the anchovies had been dropped.

James Mease James Mease (1771–1846) was a prominent American scientist, horticulturist, and physician from Philadelphia who published the first known tomato-based ketchup recipe in 1812. Early life and education Mease was born on August 11, 1771, the son of ...

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. As the century progressed, tomato ketchup began its ascent in popularity in the United States. Ketchup was popular long before fresh tomatoes were. People were less hesitant to eat tomatoes as part of a highly processed product that had been cooked and infused with vinegar and spices. Tomato ketchup was sold locally by farmers. Jonas Yerkes is credited as the first American to sell it in a bottle. By 1837, he had produced and distributed the condiment nationally. Shortly thereafter, other companies followed suit. F. & J. Heinz launched their tomato ketchup in 1876. Heinz Tomato Ketchup was advertised: "Blessed relief for Mother and the other women in the household!", a slogan which alluded to the lengthy process required to produce tomato ketchup in the home. With industrial ketchup production and a need for better preservation there was a great increase of sugar in ketchup, leading to the typically sweet and sour formula of today. In Australia, it was not until the late 19th century that sugar was added to ''tomato sauce'', initially in small quantities, but today it contains just as much as American ketchup and only differed in the proportions of tomatoes, salt and vinegar in early recipes. The '' Webster's Dictionary'' of 1913 defined "catsup" as: "table sauce made from mushrooms, tomatoes, walnuts, etc. lso 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 Harvey Washington Wiley (October 18, 1844 – June 30, 1930) was an American chemist who fought for the passage of the landmark Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and subsequently worked at the Good Housekeeping Institute laboratories. He wa ...

, the "father" of the Food and Drug Administration in the US, challenged the safety of benzoate which was banned in the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. In response, entrepreneurs including

Henry J. Heinz Henry John Heinz (October 11, 1844 – May 14, 1919) was an American entrepreneur of Palatine descent who, at the age of 25, co-founded a small horseradish concern in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. This business failed, but his second business exp ...

, pursued an alternative recipe that eliminated the need for that preservative.

Katherine Bitting Katherine Golden Bitting (April 29, 1869 - October 15, 1937) was a food chemist for the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Canners Association. She was a prolific author on the topic of food preservation. To facilitate he ...

, a bacteriologist working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, carried out research in 1909 that proved increasing the sugar and vinegar content of the product would prevent spoilage without use of artificial preservatives. She was assisted by her husband, Arvil Bitting, an official at that agency. 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 Pectin ( grc, πηκτικός ': "congealed" and "curdled") is a heteropolysaccharide, a structural acid contained in the primary lamella, in the middle lamella, and in the cell walls of terrestrial plants. The principal, chemical component of ...

. 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) believe were key to the establishment of tomato ketchup as the dominant American condiment.

Later innovations

In fast-food outlets, ketchup is often dispensed in small sachets or tubs. Diners tear the side or top and squeeze the ketchup out of the ketchup packets, or peel the foil lid off the tub for dipping. In 2011, Heinz began offering a new measured-portion package, called the "Dip and Squeeze" packet, which can be opened in either way, giving both options. Some fast food outlets previously dispensed ketchup from hand-operated pumps into paper cups. This method has made a comeback in the first decades of the 21st century, as cost and environmental concerns over the increasing use of individual plastic ketchup tubs were taken into account. In October 2000, Heinz introduced colored ketchup products called EZ Squirt, which eventually included green (2000), purple (2001), mystery (pink, orange, or teal, 2002), and blue (2003). These products were made by adding food coloring to the traditional ketchup. these products were discontinued.

Terminology

The term used for the sauce varies. ''Ketchup'' is the dominant term in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...

and

Canadian English Canadian English (CanE, CE, en-CA) encompasses the varieties of English native to Canada. According to the 2016 census, English was the first language of 19.4 million Canadians or 58.1% of the total population; the remainder spoke French ( ...

, although ''catsup'' is commonly used in some southern US states and Mexico. ''Tomato sauce'' is more common in English-speaking countries outside North America. In Canada and the US, '' tomato sauce'' is not a synonym for ketchup but is a sauce made from tomatoes and commonly used in making sauce for pasta.

Etymology

The etymology of the word ''ketchup'' is unclear and has multiple competing theories:

Amoy theory

A popular folk etymology is that the word came to English from the Cantonese "keh jup" ( 茄汁 ''ke2 zap1'', literally meaning "tomato sauce" in Cantonese). The word "keh" (茄) means "eggplant";"Tomato" in Cantonese is 番茄, which literally translates to "foreign eggplant". Another theory among academics is that the word derives from one of two words from Hokkien of the Fujian region of coastal southern China: " kôe-chiap" (in Xiamen and

Quanzhou Quanzhou, postal map romanization, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metrop ...

) or " kê-chiap" (in Zhangzhou). Both of these words (膎汁, kôe-chiap and kêchiap) come from either the

Quanzhou dialect The Quanzhou dialects (), also rendered Chin-chew or Choanchew, are a collection of Hokkien dialects spoken in southern Fujian (in southeast China), in the area centered on the city of Quanzhou. Due to migration, various Quanzhou dialects are sp ...

, Amoy dialect, or Zhangzhou dialect of Hokkien, where it meant the

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...

of pickled fish (膎, meat; 汁, juice) or shellfish.In the Chinese Amoy dialect, "kôe-chiap" ( Xiamen accented Amoy) or "kêchiap" (probably Penang Hokkien, which is based on Zhangzhou accented Amoy) (part of the Ming Na language) signifies "brine of pickled fish or shell-fish" (''Oxford English Dictionary'', ''Douglas Chinese Dict.'' 46/1, 242/1). 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".

Malay theory

Ketchup may have entered the English language from the

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

word ''kicap'' (pron. "kichap", sometimes spelled ''kecap'' or ''ketjap''). Originally meaning "soy sauce", the word itself derives from the Chinese terms. In

Indonesian cuisine Indonesian cuisine is a collection of various regional culinary traditions that formed the archipelagic nation of Indonesia. There are a wide variety of recipes and cuisines in part because Indonesia is composed of approximately 6,000 popula ...

, which is similar to

, the term ''kecap'' refers to fermented savory sauces. Two main types are well known in their cuisine: ''kecap asin'' which translates to 'salty kecap' in

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

(a salty soy sauce) and ''kecap manis'' or "sweet kecap" in Indonesian. Kecap manis is a

sweet soy sauce Sweet soy sauce ( id, kecap manis) is a sweetened aromatic soy sauce, originating in Indonesia, which has a darker color, a viscous syrupy consistency and a molasses-like flavor due to the generous addition of palm sugar or jaggery. ''Kecap manis ...

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 Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

nam pla Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, ...

'' or the Philippine '' patis''. It is not, however, soy-based.

European-Arabic theory

American anthropologist E. N. Anderson relies on Elizabeth David to claim that ''ketchup'' is a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

of the French , meaning "food in sauce". 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". The term was anglicized to ''caveach'', a word first attested in the late 17th century, at the same time as ''ketchup''.

Early uses in English

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''. * 1690, B. E., ''

A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew ''A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew'' is a dictionary of English cant and slang by a compiler known only by the initials B. E., first published in London c. 1698. With over 4,000 entries, it was the most exte ...

'' ** 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. * 1727, Eliza Smith, '' The Compleat Housewife, or, Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion'' ** The first published recipe: it included mushrooms, anchovies and horseradish. * 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, Lord Byron, '' Beppo'' viii, ** Walk or ride to the Strand, and 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.

Composition

U.S. Heinz tomato ketchup's ingredients (listed from highest to lowest percentage weight) are: tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high-fructose corn syrup,

corn syrup Corn syrup is a food syrup which is made from the starch of corn (called maize in many countries) and contains varying amounts of sugars: glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to softe ...

, salt, spice, onion powder, and natural flavoring.

"Fancy" ketchup

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.

Nutrition

The following table compares the nutritional value of ketchup with raw ripe tomatoes and

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

, based on information from the USDA Food Nutrient Database.

Viscosity

2008-11-12 Russell pouring ketchup at Elmo's Diner

Commercial tomato ketchup has an additive, usually xanthan gum, which gives the condiment a pseudoplastic or "shear thinning" property – more commonly known as thixotropic. This increases the viscosity of the ketchup considerably with a relatively small amount added—usually 0.5%—which can make it difficult to pour from a container. However, the shear thinning property of the gum ensures that when a force is applied to the ketchup it will lower the viscosity enabling the sauce to flow. 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. Ketchup in plastic bottles can be additionally manipulated by squeezing the bottle, which also decreases the viscosity of the ketchup inside. Another technique involves inverting the bottle and forcefully tapping its upper neck with two fingers (index and middle finger together). Specifically, with a

Heinz ketchup Heinz Tomato Ketchup is a brand of ketchup manufactured by the H. J. Heinz Company, a division of the Kraft Heinz Company. History It was first marketed as "catsup" in 1876 In 1907, manufacturing reached 12 million bottles and it was export ...

glass bottle, one taps the 57 circle on the neck. This helps the ketchup flow by applying the correct shearing force. 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. Ketchup is a non-Newtonian fluid, meaning that its viscosity changes under stress and is not constant. It is a shear thinning fluid which means its viscosity decreases with increased shear stress. The equation used to designate a non-Newtonian fluid is as follows:

\eta=\tau/\dot

. This equation represents apparent viscosity where apparent viscosity is the shear stress divided by shear rate. Viscosity is dependent on stress. This is apparent when you shake a bottle of tomato sauce/ketchup so it becomes liquid enough to squirt out. Its viscosity decreased with stress. The molecular composition of ketchup is what creates its pseudoplastic characteristics. Small polysaccharides, sugars, acids, and water make up the majority of the metastable ketchup product, and these small structures are able to move more easily throughout a matrix because of their low mass. While exposed to shear stress, the molecules within the suspension are able to respond quickly and create an alignment within the product. The bonds between the molecules are mostly hydrogen bonds, ionic interactions, and electrostatic interactions, all of which can be broken when subject to stress.

Hydrogen bond In chemistry, a hydrogen bond (or H-bond) is a primarily electrostatic force of attraction between a hydrogen (H) atom which is covalently bound to a more electronegative "donor" atom or group (Dn), and another electronegative atom bearing a ...

s are constantly rearranging within a product due to their need to be in the lowest energy state, which further confirms that the bonds between the molecules will be easily disrupted. This alignment only lasts for as long as shear stress is applied. The molecules return to their original disorganized state once the shear stress dissipates. In 2017, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported the development of a bottle coating that allowed all the product to slip out without leaving a residue. In 2022, researchers at the University of Oxford found that splatter from a near-empty bottle can be prevented by squeezing more slowly and doubling the diameter of the nozzle.

Separation

Ketchup is one of the many products that are leachable, meaning that the water within the product migrates together as the larger molecules within the product sediment, ultimately causing water to separate out. This forms a layer of water on top of the ketchup due to the molecular instability within the product. This instability is caused by interactions between hydrophobic molecules and charged molecules within the ketchup suspension.

Pectin Pectin ( grc, πηκτικός ': "congealed" and "curdled") is a heteropolysaccharide, a structural acid contained in the primary lamella, in the middle lamella, and in the cell walls of terrestrial plants. The principal, chemical component of ...

is a polysaccharide within tomatoes that has the ability to bind to itself and to other molecules, especially water, around it. This enables it to create a gel-like matrix, dependent on the amount within the solution. Water is a large part of ketchup, due to it being 80% of the composition of distilled vinegar. In order for the water within the ketchup to be at the lowest possible energy state, all of the hydrogen bonds that are able to be made within the matrix must be made. The water bound to the polysaccharide moves more slowly within the matrix, which is unfavorable with respect to entropy. The increased order within the polysaccharide-water complex gives rise to a high-energy state, in which the water will want to be relieved. This concept implies that water will more favorably bind with itself because of the increased disorder between water molecules. This is partially the cause for water leaching out of solution when left undisturbed for a short period of time.

References

External links

*
Did George Washington use Ketchup? (history and 18th century recipes)

Learn why ketchup is NOT good for a hot dog (and the Italian Hot Dog)
{{Authority control Chinese words and phrases Condiments Sauces Non-Newtonian fluids