What was ketchup originally made from?

Fish. The early sauce was a brine of pickled fish. British cooks later made ketchups from mushrooms, walnuts and oysters, and tomato ketchup came in the 1800s.

When was tomato ketchup invented?

The first known tomato ketchup recipe was published by Philadelphia doctor James Mease in 1812.

Were tomatoes once sold as medicine?

Yes. In the 1830s tomato pills were advertised as remedies for many complaints. Critics found some contained no tomato, and the craze ended around 1850.

Food Stories · Episode 7 · Ingredient origin

Ketchup Was Fish: The Strange History of Ketchup

The first ketchups had no tomatoes. How a fish sauce became a tomato sauce, plus the 1830s tomato pill craze that fizzled by 1850.

Major Orange and Princess Punch in the Food Stories episode "Ketchup was fish" — A still from the episode. The video is coming soon to YouTube @wonderadeusa; the full transcript is below.

The short answer

Food historians think ketchup began as a salty fish sauce made by Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, with a name that sounded like "ke-tsiap". British and Dutch sailors brought the idea home in the 1600s, and British cooks made ketchups from mushrooms, walnuts, oysters and anchovies. A Philadelphia doctor printed a tomato ketchup recipe in 1812. In the 1830s, tomato pills were sold as cure-alls; tests found some had no tomato at all.

Early English ketchups were made from mushrooms, walnuts, oysters and anchovies.
James Mease published the first known tomato ketchup recipe in 1812.
"Dr. Miles' Compound Extract of Tomato" pills were popular in the late 1830s; the craze was over by about 1850.
In Indonesian, soy sauce is called kecap.

The story (transcript)

Narration from the episode, as it is spoken.

You squeeze ketchup on your fries. Splat. But the very first ketchup had no tomatoes in it. It was made from fish.

So how did a fish sauce turn into the red stuff?

Food historians think it started with Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. They made a salty sauce, and one name for it sounded like kay-tsiap. It meant the brine of pickled fish.

In the sixteen hundreds, British and Dutch sailors tasted it. It kept for months without going bad, which is great on a long boat trip.

Back home, British cooks made their own ketchups out of mushrooms, walnuts, oysters, and anchovies. Still no tomatoes.

Then in eighteen twelve, a doctor in Philadelphia printed a ketchup recipe made with tomatoes. Back then, some people called tomatoes love apples.

And then things got silly. In the eighteen thirties, an Ohio doctor named John Cook Bennett said tomatoes could fix tummy troubles. A pill seller named Archibald Miles jumped in, with Doctor Miles' Compound Extract of Tomato.

The ads made it sound like tomato pills could cure almost anything. The truth? Tests found some tomato pills had no tomato in them at all. Mostly, they just made you poop.

By about eighteen fifty, the pill craze was over. People kept the tomatoes and put them on their food instead.

Fun fact: in Indonesia today, soy sauce is called kecap. Say it out loud. Sound familiar?

Brought to you by Wonderade, the juice you wish you had when you were growing up.

Questions people ask

What was ketchup originally made from?: Fish. The early sauce was a brine of pickled fish. British cooks later made ketchups from mushrooms, walnuts and oysters, and tomato ketchup came in the 1800s.
When was tomato ketchup invented?: The first known tomato ketchup recipe was published by Philadelphia doctor James Mease in 1812.
Were tomatoes once sold as medicine?: Yes. In the 1830s tomato pills were advertised as remedies for many complaints. Critics found some contained no tomato, and the craze ended around 1850.

Sources

Each source is listed with the facts we took from it.

Food historian Andrew F. Smith (author of Pure Ketchup): "ke-tsiap" meant the brine of pickled fish; probably from a Chinese community in northern Vietnam; the word reached English via Indonesia ("kecap") in the late 1600s; early British ketchups were made from walnuts, mushrooms and anchovies; "all of the early recipes for ketchup have nothing to do with tomatoes". Voice of America Learning English: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/ketchup-an-american-condiment-with-an-asian-connection/3961575.html
Fish sauce travelled west with Dutch and English sailors in the 1600s and kept for months without spoiling; first English recipe in Eliza Smith's The Compleat Housewife (1727). Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ketchup-fishy-origins-180963511/
Oysters, mushrooms and walnuts among earlier British ketchup ingredients; Bennett's tomato claims; tomato-pill mania through 1850. Hektoen International (medical humanities journal): https://hekint.org/2022/07/21/the-tomato-in-medicine-and-the-bloody-mary/
James Mease, Philadelphia physician, published the first known tomato ketchup recipe in 1812, calling tomatoes "love apples". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mease
John Cook Bennett: Willoughby Medical College, 1835 first lecture on tomatoes (diarrhea, dyspepsia, indigestion, bilious attacks); advised Archibald Miles to rename his "American Hygiene Pill" a tomato extract pill; "Dr. Miles' Compound Extract of Tomato"; pills and copycats debuted 1837; by 1840 critics said many contained no tomato; craze over by 1850. Mental Floss: https://www.mentalfloss.com/food/when-tomatoes-were-marketed-medicine
Period primary source: 1838 newspaper item touting Dr. Miles' "concentrated compound extract of Tomatoe" for "biliary affections". Camden (S.C.) Commercial Courier, 19 May 1838, via Univ. of South Carolina: https://historicnewspapers.sc.edu/lccn/sn92065563/1838-05-19/ed-1/seq-3/ocr
Kecap = soy sauce (and other fermented sauces) in Indonesian, cognate of "ketchup"; 1690 earliest English record "catchup". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup
Chemist's analysis of Miles' pills (largely aloe, pepper and rhubarb, i.e. laxative-type ingredients) and the 1838 "Tomato Pill War" with Guy Phelps: reported by Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/tomato-pill

How we checked this

What we simplified, hedged or left out, and why.

Origin is hedged with "Food historians think". Sources disagree on the exact dialect (Amoy vs Hokkien, which are closely related) and place (northern Vietnam vs wider Southeast Asia), so the line stays at "Chinese communities in Southeast Asia". Older-than-history claims (300 BC, 7th century China) were found only on weak sites and are left out.
"The very first ketchup had no tomatoes" means the first sauces called ketchup, which every source supports.
Mease 1812 is the "first known" tomato ketchup recipe; the narration just says he printed one, not that he invented it.
Bennett and Miles: Bennett promoted tomatoes; Miles sold the pills (Bennett reportedly suggested the name). The narration does not say Bennett sold pills. Bennett's lecture is dated 1835 in sources; the narration says "the eighteen thirties".
"Some tomato pills had no tomato" is supported (critics in 1840; analyses of Miles and Phelps pills). "Mostly, they just made you poop" is a kid-level paraphrase of the laxative finding; it says "mostly" and "some" to avoid overclaiming. "Cure almost anything" paraphrases the ads' long lists of ailments.