Ketchup

A smooth, sweet-tangy tomato sauce of tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, and spices, standardized into its familiar modern form largely by American manufacturers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Flavor Profile

Sweet, tangy, and mildly spiced, with tomato's natural umami rounded out by significant added sugar.

Culinary Uses

Nearly universal condiment for fries, burgers, and hot dogs across American food culture; ingredient in sauces (cocktail sauce, some barbecue sauces).

Regional Variations

Regional and international variants exist (curry ketchup in Germany, banana ketchup in the Philippines); "tomato sauce" in Australia and "catsup" as an older American spelling both refer to essentially the same product.

Storage

Keeps many months unopened; refrigerate after opening, though the vinegar and sugar content means it stays safe for a long time even unrefrigerated.

The word itself traces through Hokkien "kê-tsiap" and Malay "kecap" even though the modern tomato-based product bears no resemblance to those ancestral condiments.