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October 2007

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Condiments

A Fresh Look At Ketchup

Both Tomato Ketchup & Non-Tomato Ketchup (Cranberry, Mushroom, Plum...Banana Ketchup, Anyone?)

CAPSULE REPORT: In perhaps the most exhaustive tasting of ketchups you’ll find, intrepid food writer Stephanie Zonis tasted 42 ketchups, 32 tomato-based and 10 others ranging from banana to mushroom (as you’ll read, the original ketchups were not made from tomatoes). The results may surprise you. In the tomato ketchup category, some of the best-known names in specialty food were bested by little-known companies such as Appledore Cove, Catsup à la Tomate (from France), Happy Girl (organic), June Taylor (organic ingredients) and Tracklements (from the U.K.). The good news is that one of our favorites, Muir Glen, is one of the least expensive, the most widely available at retail (at most stores that sell natural and organic foods) and is both organic and kosher. There were clear favorites in the non-tomato category as well. These top ketchups are worthy stocking-stuffers and house gifts; and if you put together a collection, you’ll make your favorite ketchup lover very happy. This is Page 1 of a nine-page article. Click on the black links below to visit other pages.

You Say Tomato, I Say Banana: A Fresh Look At Ketchup

Upon hearing that I’d been assigned an article on ketchup, a friend expressed astonishment. She thought I only wrote about upscale specialty foods. Why was I writing about an inexpensive condiment available in any convenience store? And there are only two or three brands, so what’s the point?

The point is that none of the common ideas about ketchup are necessarily true. If you live in the U.S., most likely, the ketchup you’ve been exposed to is tomato-based, relatively cheap, and easy to find anywhere. It lends color and a salty-sweet-vinegary flavor to hamburgers and French fries. You might use it on meatloaf or scrambled eggs. And most people think that’s about it. As it turns out, though, there can be a lot more to ketchup.

What’s In a Name: Ketchup, Catsup Or Catchup?

Perhaps a good place to start would be with the product’s name. FDA standards allow any of the above as legal names for this condiment. But which is really correct?

According to Andrew Smith, author of Pure Ketchup: A History of America’s National Condiment there is a great etymological confusion over the origin of this condiment’s name. Suggestions have ranged from corruptions of the French term escaveche, meaning “food in sauce,” to a variation of the Indonesian word kecap, to the claim by the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary that ke-tsiap (“the brine of pickled fish”) was the forefather. Each of these etymologies has its supporters and detractors, and, like much food history, the true past of our modern term is shrouded in the mists of time.
Photo © J.L. Hennaux | Fotolia.

No matter. All three words are used to describe the product today. Because “ketchup” is the most common spelling, it will be used throughout this article, except where particular product names are spelled differently.

Continue To Page 2: The History Of Ketchup

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