[Sca-cooks] Period?, was Tomatoes
ranvaig at columbus.rr.com
ranvaig at columbus.rr.com
Fri Oct 6 13:06:00 PDT 2006
>
>Someone mentioned a book about the history of ketchup. I am unfamiliar with
>the book, but if the author states that ketchup has a history linked to our
>(SCA) time period, does he give his sources? Are they period sources, or
>just someone else's opinion on the matter? I'm curious.
Ketchup was not originally made with tomatoes,
but seems to only be period in Asia. Tomato
ketchup dates from around 1800.
Ranvaig
http://mimi.essortment.com/historyketchup_rlju.htm
In the 1600s Dutch and British seamen brought
back a salty pickled fish sauce called 'ketsiap'
from China. In this version, it was more related
to soy or oyster sauce than the sweet, vinegary
substance we call ketchup today. Variations in
both the name and the ingredients quickly
developed. British alternatives included
mushrooms (the favorite), anchovies, oysters, and
walnuts. In 1690 the word 'catchup' appeared in
print in reference to this sauce, and in 1711
'ketchup'.
The first ketchup recipe was printed in 1727 in
Elizabeth Smith's The Compleat Housewife, and
called for anchovies, shallots, vinegar, white
wine, sweet spices (cloves, ginger, mace,
nutmeg), pepper, and lemon peel. Eighty-five
years later the first tomato ketchup recipe was
published in Nova Scotia...
http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/sleuth/0799/
Indonesian and Asian culture invented what we
know today as ketchup. The spicy, pickled fish
sauce made of anchovies, walnuts, mushrooms and
kidney beans, dating back thousands of years was
called ke-tsiap or kecap and was popular in
17th-century China. British seamen brought
ke-tsiap home with them where the name was
changed to catchup and then finally ketchup. It
wasn't until the late 1700s though that canny New
Englanders added tomatoes to the blend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup#Early_origins
Ketchup existed before anyone outside the
Americas had ever seen a tomato. Originally this
sauce was made out of pickled fish. It originated
in Eastern Asia; the word ketchup is used in
Chinese, Malay and Indonesian (e.g., kecap
manis). English and Dutch sailors brought the
Asian ketchup to Europe, where many flavourings,
such as mushrooms, anchovies and nuts, were added
to the basic fish sauce. Whether the tomato was
also added to ketchup in England is not certain,
and it's likely that this important event first
happened in the USA. By 1801 a recipe for tomato
ketchup was printed in an American cook book, the
"Sugar House Book".
http://www.foodhistory.com/foodnotes/leftovers/ketchup/01/
The word ketchup comes from the Chinese word
"kôe-chiap" or "ke-tsiap," meaning "brine of
pickled fish or shellfish." The original Chinese
type of ketchup tasted more like soy or
Worcestershire sauce, and did, of course, contain
fish brine, plus herbs and spices. There were no
tomatoes involved. The early recipe "traveled,"
as good recipes do, to Malaysia and Indonesia.
17th century English sailors encountered the
sauce in their journeys, and took the sauce and
recipe concept home to England. (Another theory
states that British explorers first discovered
the condiment in Southeast Asia.) At any rate,
instructions for making ketchups then spread to
other parts of the Western world. The sauce was
first mentioned in print in the English language
in 1690.
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