The Unfinished Fight

Ketchup

By Craig L. Barry · Originally published June 2017 · p. 11

National Ketchup Day is celebrated in America on June 5. The reason for recognizing ketchup in such a way results from the popular stereotype that it is “the quintessential American condiment.” When we refer to this form of ketchup, we understand it as a thick, slightly sweet, tomato based product. While the mid19th century was probably the “golden age” for widespread use of ketchup, that version bore little resemblance to the product being recognized in the modern era. So what was ketchup like 150 years ago and how was it different than today? There is some debate in culinary history circles, or what we sometimes call foodways, on the origin of the word “ketchup.” While the word “ketchup” is definitely not American in origin, nobody seems to want to claim full credit for coming up with it. The French claim it is an English term for a fish sauce—the English certainly did their share in popularizing the use of ketchup that way. However, it probably goes back much further back in history to several different parts of the world about the same time. It appears to have evolved out of a widespread need to preserve fish or at least disguise the flavor of fish that was less than fresh but not quite spoiled. There is speculation that the word is Chinese in origin, from koe-cheup or ke-tsiap which was a type of fermented brine mixed with soy beans used to preserve fish. The Chinese say it comes from Southeast Asia, from the Malayan word kit-jap. The Malays say no; the word is Chinese in origin. Ancient Greeks and Romans had something similar called garum which is also a fermented sauce, uses salt and sounds a little like Asian ketchup, except for the spices and name. If no one group can lay claim to creating the word “ketchup,” this much seems reasonably sure, a number of cultures had some kind of salt brine or fermented sauce used to flavor or preserve fish. None of them were tomato based or had anything to do with tomatoes until at least the 18th century. In fact, being a new world plant, tomatoes were not found anywhere near the places where early versions of ketchup were first used. Because of the spices used for seasoning the sauce, the Asian version of the ancient fish sauce was the first one to catch on with early European traders visiting the Far East and the modern name seems to have evolved from variations of exotic recipes from that region. One of the first printed references to ketchup dates from 1711 in Account of the Trade in India by Charles Lockyer. He wrote “Soy comes in tubbs from Japan and the best ketchup comes from Tonquin, yet good [sic] of both sorts are made and sold very cheap in China.” The first known publication of a ketchup recipe in the English language was in The Compleat Housewife or An Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion (London) by Eliza Smith in 1727. This was also the first cookbook printed in America (by William Parks in Williamsburg, Va., in 1741). It sold very well. This version, which she called “English Katchop” used anchovies, shallots, white wine vinegar as well as two varieties of white wine, and a mix of spices including mace, ginger, cloves, pepper, a whole nutmeg and horseradish. Period cookbooks featured all kinds of ketchup recipes made from oysters, mussels, mushrooms, walnuts, and celery; sometimes even calling for fruits like lemons, plums and peaches. The well-known English “Prince of Wales” ketchup recipe used (among other ingredients) elderberries, mace and cloves. While all these versions bore little resemblance to the Asian fish sauce (except for the use of spices), early references still defined it as “a high East-India sauce” although spellings varied. As one might expect from a sauce with such a varied past, there are several different spellings for what ultimately became known in America as “ketchup.” These include “ketchup,” “catsup” and “catchup.” If it is a phonetic spelling based on an Asian word then, perhaps, that is to be expected. However, in America, dating back at least to 1818, the Universal Receipt (Recipe) Book favored “ketchup” as the best or most correct spelling. When Heinz ultimately decided on a spelling for their tomato-based version of the condiment in the 1870s, they went with “ketchup.” So what was ketchup like in America during the Civil Warera? During the 19th century ketchup was very popular on the home front. In The Kentucky Housewife (1839), Lettice Bryan wrote about “catchups” made from spices added to sauces and gravy. She included recipes for ketchup based on oysters, rum, lobster, mushroom, anchovy and walnut as well as tomatoes. The tomato was not unknown as an ingredient in mid-19th century ketchup; it was just one of many popular varieties. Here is her tomato-based recipe for “kitchen catchup:” “Chop two quarts of ripe tomatoes, sprinkle them with salt and put them in a pan with one dozen minced onions, a handful of scraped horseradish and boil them for one hour adding no water but stirring them frequently; then strain them, put the liquid back into a pan with an equal portion of red wine; and half an ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of nutmegs and half an ounce of cloves. Cover the pan and boil it gently till reduced to half the original quantity; then cool and bottle it” (Bryan, 1839 p 174). In the Civil War Diary of Gen. Neal Dow, he writes from Libby Prison in Richmond, “December 30, 1863: Mild, pleasant morning. Yesterday received from Supply Association of Baltimore, 1 dozen pickles in pints, 1 dozen in quarts, 1 dozen pepper sauce in pints and 1 dozen bottles of tomato ketchup.” His Confederate captors were noted as being jealous of such luxuries. In the Civil War letters of Henry Clarke Gilbert, an officer in the 19th Mich. Inf., he wrote about a particular box of treats from home which he shared and enjoyed with his comrades. Gilbert states; “The ketchup goes off rapidly, when we open a bottle it only lasts a day. I think it is the best I ever saw & hope you made a barrel of it.” This brings up some interesting final points which contributed to the rise in ketchup’s popularity during the mid-19th century. First was the ability to last without spoiling for significant periods of time. Mushroom ketchup was said to keep for a year. One period cookbook claimed that walnut ketchup would keep for five years and that the flavor actually improved with age. Lettice Bryan made perhaps the boldest statement in The Kentucky Housewife (1839), writing that her “Fish catchup was good for any length of time.” Finally, during the U.S. Civil War-era, ketchup was almost exclusively a homemade concoction. While there were a few commercial products available from grocers such as Horace K. Thurber in New York, ketchup appears to have been much more commonly produced in small batches from kitchens on the home front. Mid-19th century cookbooks often contained a dozen or more receipts (recipes) for different varieties of ketchup. Later in the 19th century with the rise of commercially made products such as Heinz Tomato Ketchup, the recipes began slowly disappearing from new cookbooks. It turns out making ketchup at home was messy, and a lot of work. It didn’t always look or taste exactly like the newer commercial products. When the Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking School Cook Book was published in 1896, there were no ketchup recipes—tomato or otherwise— to be found in the book at all. Craig L Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from the University of North Carolina (Charlotte). Craig served The Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003-2017. The Watchdog published both books and columns on the material culture of the mid-19th century and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy (2006, 2011), The Unfinished Fight: Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013) and three books (soon to be four) in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series on English Arms & Accoutrements, Quartermaster stores and other European imports.