I have been told if you go to a gourmet's grave, carrying a wooden stake
and a bottle of Ketchup, you can bind the dude to the grave forever.
Simply use the Ketchup to draw a cross on the headstone, dip the tip
of the stake into the same condiment, and drive it into the grave about
where you think the cook's stomach is. No, no, not the heart. That's
another story.
In the free world, and especially
on this continent, Ketchup is the number one condiment. It has greater
sales, and is used more often on more things, and in more dishes, than
any other condiment. Only Mustard comes close. In fact, there may be
some question about whether Mustard is number two or not, in some cases.
But, most of those who produce condiments say their statistics show
Mustard running a close second to Ketchup.
I imagine that part of the popularity
of Ketchup is due to all the little crumb snatchers and rug rats being
influenced by television, fast-food joints, and, wonder of wonders,
their parents. That's right. It is reported by the food industry that
as many adults as kids eat the stuff on hamburgers, hot-dogs, meat loaf,
eggs and in sundry other dishes such as Chili, Sloppy Joe, and Barbecue
sauces. It has historically been America's most used condiment and estimated
to be found in 97% of all American kitchens, a status equaled only by
Salt, Pepper and Sugar! And yet, it is thought of as a rather 'common'
sort of food. No one ever died uttering the words, 'Ketchup, Ketchup,
my kingdom for a bottle of Ketchup.' It is rumored that Andrew Jackson
grew wistful about a shot of whiskey before he cashed out, but no one
of record has yet pined for Ketchup with his or her last gasp. Except,
possibly, Henry J. Heinz.
Many people assume, since Heinz
is the longest surviving national brand of Ketchup on the market, that
ole Henry cooked up (pun intended) the idea. While, as far as I can
tell, his recipe remains unaltered to this day, and his brand is probably
far and away the most familiar to consumers, he was neither the inventor
nor the first to bottle and sell it.
Ketchup is believed to be a descendant
of a Chinese brine sauce called 'Ketsiap' which was the result of making
either pickled poultry or pickled fish. Ketsiap has been known in China
since around 1690 and the name is most commonly applied to a type of
fish sauce. The Chinese word 'Ketsiap' simply means 'sauce.' There is
also a Malay version of this fish sauce by the name of 'kechap' and
this Malaysian word means 'taste.' As far as I have been able to determine,
the two different names refer to basically the same type of pickled
fish sauce.
Sometime in the 17th century, British
sailors were out sailing around for a breath of fresh air and adventure,
not to mention plunder, when they discovered this fish sauce in China
and carried a mess of it back home. There, probably in an effort to
make it taste like anything but pickled fish, cooks mutated and reformulated
this concoction until, somewhere along the way, someone invented tomatoes
and history was made. Tomato Ketchup was born.
In the 1830s, I was told, a form
of Ketchup was sold under the brand name of Mile's Compound Extract
of Tomato and, of course, cured everything from ingrown toenails to
nose hairs and was good for everything in between and around these two
points of the human body.
Not to be outdone by the likes of
Dr. Miles, H. J. Heinz proclaimed his ketchup as a health food with
numerous miracle benefits. Apparently old H.J. discovered scientists
who studied tomatoes and claimed their findings indicated lower rates
of cancer among those who enjoyed the use of Ketchup.
Not only has the product itself
been changed many times until we have the present day sauce known as
'Ketchup', but the name of the product has changed as well. It has been
known by various aliases such as Ketchup, Catsup, Catsoup, Cornchop,
Catchup, Katchup . . . and old man Varney, who used to live down the
road from me, called it a whole bunch of things I cannot print here.
Varney was a gourmet cook.
In the 1980s, there was some issue
over how to classify 'Ketchup' under the federal food program, and the
feds, those ever-clever fellows, declared that Ketchup would appear
on school lunch menus as a vegetable. This created a lot of angst over
at the old Del Monte Catsup works because, suddenly, their Catsup, due
to its spelling, was out of the loop and excluded from the government's
approved list. Not very long after that, Del Monte changed the name
of its product from 'Catsup' to 'Ketchup.'
Anyway, In general, Ketchup (or
Catsup, if you prefer) is basically a sauce composed of Tomato Puree
and/or Tomato Paste, water, vinegar, sugar, and spices such as Cinnamon
and Allspice. There is even a version made from Bananas and colored
red so it resembles standard Ketchup. In fact, as time goes on, it seems
that more types of Ketchup/Catsup appear on the market. Here are just
a few from a list of many: Larry Forgone's Smoky Catsup (Michigan),
Cleveland Style (Ohio), Mrs. Tomato Head Garlic Peppercorn Ketchup (California),
Gold's Horseradish Ketchup (New York), World's Real Onion Catsup (Massachusetts),
and Peppers of the World Mesquite Ketchup (Texas).
Ketchup apparently inspires emotions,
too. When Collinsville, Illinois was in danger of losing the huge Brooks
Ketchup Water Tower, billed as the 'largest Ketchup bottle in the world',
the folks of Collinsville rallied and formed a preservation group to
save the bottle. All the usual fundraising tactics were employed, including
a 1-million dollar donation campaign on a St. Louis radio station. They
were successful, the bottle is still there and each year they have a
big parade and food bash to celebrate.
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