Ketchup

The Bittings have written a number of books on canning and home preparation of food. This short volume includes a brief description of the preparation and production of ketchup, primarily from commercial production view, and then a more scientific treatment of this condiment and its ingredients.

By : A. W. Bitting (1870 - 1946)

01 - Introduction 02 - The Manufacture of Tomato Ketchup 03 - Washing 04 - Pulping 05 - Cooking 06 - Seasoning 07 - Bottling 08 - Processing 09 - Factory Arrangements 10 - Pulp Stock 11 - Pulp from Trimmings 12 - Color 13 - Keeping Quality 14 - Characteristics of Commercial Ketchup 15 - Microscopic Examination 16 - Structure of the Tomato 17 - Structure of the Ketchup 18 - Changes Produced in Pulp by Rotting 19 - Organisms in Ketchup 20 - Structure of the Tomato Part 1 21 - Structure of the Tomato Part 2

Ketchup is a spiced sauce used for its condimental effect in imparting flavor, or to give relish to other foods. It receives its distinctive name from the base used, as, tomato, grape, currant, mushroom, walnut, etc.

The terms ketchup, catchup, and catsup are used to designate any spiced sauce and seemingly without any reason for the one used other than personal preference. Though the derivation of the term has been attributed to different sources by the dictionaries, there seems to be more reason for the use of the term ketchup than for the others, both upon the ground of its prior and more general use, and from the history of its derivation. Murray gives the derivation of ketchup from the Amoy dialect of the Chinese, the term being koechiap or ke-tsiap, meaning a brine of pickled fish or shell fish; and he states that the Malayan kechap, which has been claimed as the original source, may be from the Chinese, but that the word kitjap, as given by some dictionaries from the Japanese, is an impossible word for that language, and is possibly an error for Javanese. The term catchup given by some dictionaries appears to be based on the assumption that the first syllable ketch is a colloquial form of catch. Many manufacturers use the word catsup, a spelling for which there seems to be no etymological warrant. The earliest use of the term catsup, found by the writer, with any particular significance attached to it as distinct from the other two terms, is by Kitchiner, an English physician, in the Cook’s Oracle, in which directions are given for reducing “catchup” to half the quantity, the statement being that “it may then be called double cat-sup or dog-sup.” The first edition of the book appeared in 1817 in England.