The history of tomato ketchup: From fish sauce to Heinz

Every year, billions of bottles of ketchup are sold around the world, making it one of humanity's most successful processed foods.

Today, it is almost inseparable from hamburgers, French fries, hot dogs, and countless fast-food meals.

When we slap a dash of ketchup on our omelet or patty, we just assume that's how ketchup always looked and tasted.

But did you know this? The familiar red sauce has a surprising secret: it did not originally contain a single tomato.

The direct ancestor of modern ketchup first emerged in ancient Southeast Asia as a fermented fish sauce.

You might be forgiven for thinking that the story of ketchup originated in America. After all, it is now the world's biggest ketchup market and home to some of its largest manufacturers.

Welcome to Business History. Today, we break down The Rambling Journey of Tomato Ketchup.

CHAPTER 1: Fishy Business

Few food products have travelled such an extraordinary cultural and technological journey. The ancestors of ketchup included a fermented fish sauce in Asia and in southern Europe.

The Romans made fermented fish sauces sometime between the sixth Century B.C.E. and 300 B.C.E. The Roman Empire was famous for its fish sauce, known as garum.
In Asia too, the tradition of fermenting fish was well-established. Records show the practice in China as early as 300 B.C.E.

The earliest predecessors of ketchup are believed to have been fermented fish sauces used in Southeast Asia around 500 to 400 B.C.E. They were popular in places like Vietnam and Thailand and were referred to as ‘nam pla’. Later, when the recipe reached ancient Phoenician, Greek, and Roman kitchens, it was called ‘garum’.

The word ‘ketchup’ too had nothing to do with America. It originated from the Chinese word 'ke-tsiap', a fermented fish brine made from pickled fish and spices, which was used as a seasoning in southern China.

This sauce dates back to at least the 17th century. During the 1600s, the Fujian province in China and South East Asia regions were making the direct predecessor of ketchup.

During the seventeenth century, Hokkien traders brought these fermented sauces to Malaysia and Indonesia, where they were known as kechap and ketjap respectively. In Indonesia, the term kecap is still used today, often referring to a sweetened soy sauce known as kecap manis.

Dutch and English sailors encountered the local fermented fish and soy sauces in Southeast Asia during the early 1600s. They found the sauce appealing.

Partly because its unique preservation method meant it could keep for months without spoiling, making it ideal for long sea voyages back to Europe.

CHAPTER 2: Ketchup is not what ketchup used to be

Ketchup arrived in Europe after British traders and sailors brought it back to England, where it was transformed from a fish-based sauce into a variety of condiments.

Soybeans and other original Asian ingredients were not available in Europe; so British cooks began using whatever local ingredients they could find.

British versions of ketchup were therefore made from mushrooms, walnuts, oysters, and anchovies. Thus ‘ketchup’ became a catch-all term for any type of spiced brown sauce.

In sixteen-ninety, the word ‘catchup’ first appeared in print in the New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew, which described the sauce as “a high East-India Sauce”.

By the seventeen-forties, ketchup had become an everyday part of English cuisine. However, it was no longer a fish sauce, and was completely unrecognizable from what we eat today.

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, a cookbook authored by noted British culinary expert Hannah Glasse, and published in 1747, included a recipe for mushroom ketchup. Glasse’s version was a dark savory sauce very different from today’s tomato ketchup.

Shortly after, the first known ketchup recipe in English was published in 1758 in Eliza Smith's cookbook, The Compleat Housewife. Her ‘English Katchup’ was a savory chutney made of anchovies, cloves, ginger, and pepper.

CHAPTER 3: The American Tomato Transformation & The Medical Claims

So how did ketchup become the sweet, sour and tangy sauce we consume today? It was in America that tomato-based ketchup was finally invented.

Before we trace the tomato's remarkable journey, let's answer an interesting question: Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Botanically, it is a fruit—specifically, a berry. In the kitchen, however, it is treated as a vegetable because of its savory flavor.

Now we must remember: tomatoes were not known in Asia, Europe, or Africa until the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors landed in South America in the sixteenth century.
Tomatoes originated in the Andes of modern Peru and Ecuador, before spreading across the Americas long before Europeans encountered them.

In the beginning, when brought to America and Europe, tomatoes were thought to be poisonous. Many Americans regarded them with extreme suspicion.

That view changed slowly. The first known published recipe for tomato ketchup was written in eighteen-twelve by a Philadelphia-based scientist and horticulturalist named James Mease.

Mease’s recipe was a thin concoction of tomato pulp, spices, shallots, and brandy.
But then came the most bizarre era in ketchup history. There was a brief period between the 1830s and 1850s when tomato ketchup was used as a patent medicine! Imagine that!

An Ohio-based physician, lecturer, and medical entrepreneur named Dr. John Cook Bennett promoted the product during the 1830s. He argued that the tomato possessed remarkable medicinal properties.

Bennett believed tomatoes stimulated healthy liver function, improved digestion, and purified the body's secretions. He published articles claiming tomatoes could successfully treat diarrhea, dyspepsia, jaundice, bilious disorders, and rheumatism.

So, should people eat fresh tomatoes all year round? Bennett found another way. He concocted products that were concentrated, easy to preserve, available year-round, and convenient to dispense through pharmacies.

Tomato ketchup met many of Bennett’s conditions. It was a concentrated mixture of tomatoes, vinegar, salt, and spices, intended to keep for long periods. It was marketed not as something to pour on food, but as a therapeutic preparation to be taken in measured doses.

By about 1837, Bennett tied up with drug manufacturer Archibald Miles, who transformed concentrated tomato extract into tablets or pills sold under names such as ‘Dr. Miles' Compound Extract of Tomato’.

These ‘tomato pills’ were easier to package, transport, and prescribe than bottled ketchup.
Those were days when medical regulation was almost non-existent. Newspapers routinely carried advertisements for ‘miracle cures’.

Bennett's success was dramatic but short-lived. Very soon rival firms flooded the market with imitation tomato pills. Some advertisements asserted that tomato preparations could cure cholera, influenza, scurvy, tuberculosis, broken bones, and virtually every digestive complaint.
Ironically, some of these products contained little or no tomato at all, while others were simply laxatives relabelled as tomato medicines.

Soon, the public was disillusioned. By the late 1840s and early 1850s, the fad had largely collapsed.

Be that as it may, Bennett's medical venture may have helped popularize tomatoes in America. By insisting that tomatoes were beneficial rather than dangerous, he contributed to changing public perceptions of the fruit.

CHAPTER 4: Heinz and the Modern Empire

With the fear of tomatoes gone, commercial tomato ketchup continued to grow as a food product. There were two people who played pivotal roles in the development and commercialization of tomato ketchup in America.

One was Jonas Yerkes, who, in 1837, was one of the first people to mass-produce and sell tomato ketchup in bottles. That was how the groundwork for the commercialization of ketchup was laid. 

But while Jonas Yerkes laid the groundwork, it was Henry John Heinz who transformed ketchup into a global icon. Henry Heinz, founder of the iconic Heinz brand, was born in the United States to German immigrant parents.

In 1869, he began packing foodstuffs on a small scale in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. In the same year, he co-founded a company called Heinz & Noble with L. Clarence Noble, marketing their first product under the Anchor brand.

The flagship product was based on Heinz’s mother Anna Heinz’s recipe for horseradish, which Henry produced in the basement of his father’s former house.

The business began well, but then encountered difficulties and went bankrupt in 1875.
Not one to be daunted by failure, Heinz established a new venture in 1876, F. & J. Heinz, with his brother John Heinz and cousin Frederick Heinz. 

One of their first products was Heinz Tomato Ketchup. Using high-quality, ripe red tomatoes and vinegar, he created a smoother, sweeter, and more standardized product. This innovation made Heinz ketchup a market leader.

The business grew steadily, and in 1888, Henry purchased his partners’ shares to reorganize the company as the H. J. Heinz Company. The Heinz recipe remains a benchmark for ketchup to this day.

Del Monte was a much later entrant in the ketchup market. Although Del Monte began operating in 1886, it began with a host of farm products, and began selling ketchup only in the 1970s.

Del Monte began as a niche player and grew rapidly, leveraging its strong brand recognition. In the 1990s, Del Monte expanded its ketchup business further, introducing new varieties and packaging formats.

By the early twentieth century, tomato ketchup had emerged as a popular condiment. Early ketchup production had been labor-intensive and relied on open-kettle cooking, but the 20th century saw its acceptance grow dramatically through new advertising and packaging.

Following the harrowing years of rationing during the Second World War, the world was ready to try out new things.

Technological advances in food processing, packaging, and refrigerated transportation enabled the distribution of ketchup to a broader market.

In the late 20th century, the fast-food industry’s rise fueled ketchup consumption worldwide, especially in America.

CONCLUSION: The Global Condiment

In the twenty-first century, ketchup continues to be a staple condiment, with steady growth driven by factors like urbanization, changing dietary habits, and the growth of the food service industry.

But as we slap a dash of ketchup onto our burgers today, the product's ancient Asian origins are long forgotten.

From a fermented fish brine in a wooden barrel, to a fraudulent medical cure, to the undisputed king of the modern fast-food empire.

What historical food origin surprises you the most? Let me know in the comments below.

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