Ketchup

   When you think of one thing in your kitchen that you never want to run out of what it?  one thing that I think of is Ketchup.  Americans love ketchup. We eat it on almost everything including burgers, fries, hotdogs, onion rings, chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks, and some people even eat it with grilled cheese and mac and cheese.  A good old burger anf fries just wouldn't be the same without this delicious tomatoey sauce!  I did a little bit of research and found out the history of this delicious condiment.
    The original Ketchup actually came from China and was called ke-tsiap.  This Chinese ketchup was nothing close to today's ketchup though, it didn't even have tomatoes in it actually.  Chinese ketchup was a pickled fish sauce, it was salty and similar to a soy sauce.  Seventeenth century English sailors discovered this sauce and brought it west where the name and ingredients began to change.  The first time catsup was mentioned in print was in 1690 and ketchup in 1711.  In Britain people put in the ingredients of oysters, anchovies, and mushrooms. The first recipe for ketchup was printed in 1727 in The Complete Housewife, but it still did not call for tomatoes.  It wasn't until 85 year later that the first tomato ketchup recipe would be made in Novi Scotia.  Ketchup was sold nationwide by 1837 and became a huge success in 1872 when Heinz began selling ketchup in their product line.  Heinz Ketchup hasn't changed and is still the same today. 
 

Fun Facts:
-Ketchup is found in around 97% of American kitchens
-Ketchup can fight against cancer and heart disease

Information from:
http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/ketchuphistory.htm
http://www.essortment.com/brief-history-ketchup-21820.html

Picture from:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/04/words-that-should-be-words-disrespectchup.html