What is ketchup?
A: Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor.
Tomato ketchup is made from what?
A: Tomatoes, sugar, and vinegar, with seasonings and spices.
The spices and flavors vary, but commonly include what?
A: Onions, allspice, coriander, cloves, cumin, garlic, and mustard, and
sometimes include celery, cinnamon, or ginger.
The market leader in the United States (60% market
share) and the United Kingdom (82%) is whom?
A: Heinz Tomato Ketchup.
Tomato ketchup is most often used as a condiment to
dishes that are usually served how?
A: Hot.
Ketchup is sometimes used as the basis for, or as one
ingredient in what?
A: Other sauces and dressings.
In the United Kingdom, preparations of ketchup were
historically and originally prepared with what?
A: Mushrooms as a primary ingredient, rather than tomatoes.
When did ketchup recipes begin to appear in British and
then American cookbooks?
A: In the 18th century.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term
ketchup first appeared in what year?
A: 1682.
In the United States, mushroom ketchup dates back to
when?
A: At least 1770 and was prepared by British colonists in the Thirteen
Colonies.
An early recipe for "Tomata Catsup" from 1817 includes
what?
A: Anchovies.
In 1824, a ketchup recipe using tomatoes appeared in
what cookbook?
A: The Virginia Housewife (an influential 19th-century cookbook written by
Mary Randolph, Thomas Jefferson's cousin).
American cooks also began to do what to ketchup in the
19th century?
A: Sweeten it.
Ketchup was popular long before what?
A: Fresh tomatoes.
People were less hesitant to eat tomatoes as part of
what?
A: A highly processed product that had been cooked and infused with vinegar
and spices.
Who is credited as the first American to sell tomato
ketchup in a bottle?
A: Jonas Yerkes.
By 1837, he had done what?
A: Produced and distributed the condiment nationally.
When did F. & J. Heinz launch their tomato ketchup?
A: In 1876.
With industrial ketchup production and a need for
better preservation there was a great increase of sugar in ketchup, leading
to what?
A: The typically sweet and sour formula of nowadays.
How is ketchup often dispensed in fast-food outlets?
A: Ketchup is often dispensed in small sachets or tubs.
Some fast-food outlets previously dispensed ketchup
from what?
A: Hand-operated pumps into paper cups.
A common method to getting ketchup out of the bottle
involves inverting the bottle and doing what?
A: Shaking it or hitting the bottom with the heel of the hand, which causes
the ketchup to flow rapidly.