Ketchup

Ketchup is a table condiment with a sweet and sour flavor; while tomato ketchup dominates today, earlier versions of the condiment were made from mushrooms, oysters, mussels, eggs, grapes or walnuts. Modern tomato ketchup combines tomatoes, sugar or high fructose corn syrup, vinegar and salt with spices such as onion, allspice, coriander, cloves, cumin, garlic and mustard seed, sometimes with cinnamon or ginger. The word first appeared in print in 1682, James Mease published the first known tomato ketchup recipe in 1812, and Jonas Yerkes became the first American to sell it bottled, achieving national distribution by 1837; Henry J. Heinz later developed an alternative recipe without sodium benzoate after the preservative was banned by the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. Ketchup serves as a condiment for fried and greasy foods and as an ingredient in other sauces such as Thousand Island dressing and Marie Rose sauce.