It Wasn’t Always Red
Listen to a story about a sauce that kids eat with almost everything
Tap Quiz
What do you think, huh?
The words
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Word
Meaning
Anchovies (n.)
Small, salty fish often used in sauces. Example: The first ketchup used anchovies for flavor.
Global (adj.)
Connected to the whole world. Example: Ketchup has a global history.
Recipe (n.)
It explains how to make food. Example: Heinz changed the ketchup recipe.
Traders (n.)
They buy and sell goods between places. Example: English traders took the sauce to England.
Vinegar (n.)
A sour liquid used in cooking. Example: English ketchup had vinegar in it.
The story
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The History of Ketchup
Ketchup is a red, sweet sauce made from tomatoes. We eat it with hamburgers, French fries, and eggs. It is good with cheese sandwiches, too. But ketchup was not always red or sweet or made from tomatoes. It has changed a lot since it was discovered in Asia about 500 years ago.
The history of ketchup begins in China.
Sailors from the southern part of China called Fujian would sail down the coast and visit many places. In Vietnam, they met fishermen who made a salty, spicy brown sauce. The sauce was made from anchovies. Chinese sailors liked the sauce and called it ke-tsiap, which means fish sauce.
The sailors took the sauce to other places like Malaysia and Indonesia. Around the 1600s, Chinese sailors met traders from England. The British bought the fish sauce and took it back to England. The people in England liked the sauce a lot. One hundred years later, ketchup was a big business in England and China.
In England, many people tried to make their own sauce. They made it with mushrooms, vinegar, and walnuts. But no tomatoes.
In the 1800s, tomatoes were used to make ketchup for the first time. The recipe also had anchovies to keep the fishy taste.
In the 1850s, an American named Henry Heinz changed the recipe. He took out the anchovies and added more tomatoes plus lots of sugar. This made ketchup a red, sweet sauce. And that is the sauce we know today.
The history of ketchup is a story about global business and the superpowers. In the 1750s, China was the strongest, the richest, and the most powerful country in the world. They made their money by selling tea, spices, and manufactured goods. And ketchup.
The next time you put some ketchup on your French fries, remember this. You are eating a food that helped change world history.