‘Tis the season when tomatoes reign supreme.
Heirloom, Juliet, Roma, Kumato. Entire festivals are dedicated to this native fruit. But I don’t want to talk tomatoes; I want to talk about their red-headed stepchild, as it were.
I mean, of course, ketchup.
As American as the condiment seems, it might surprise you to learn that it, in fact, comes from Asia. Even the word “ketchup” is derived from the Chinese word “kê-tsiap,” which is a sauce made from fermented fish.
According to a Stuff You Should Know podcast episode titled “How Ketchup Works” to which I recently listened (yes, really), it is believed the sauce made its way to Britain sometime during the early 1700s, where fermented fish was replaced with other savory ingredients such as mushrooms, walnuts and anchovies.