Potsa saucy facts!
ENJOY that dollop of tomato ketchup on your weekend brekkie because it could soon be more difficult to come by.
It is in short supply due to Covid-19 guidelines, which say the red condiment must be supplied in individual sachets rather than bottles. Heinz has reacted by increasing production by 12billion sachets a year, however demand is soaring as bars and restaurants prepare to reopen. But how much do you know about the saucy stuff?
NADINE LINGE has 12 facts.
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KETCHUP is originally from China, on pasta and in Germany it’s mixed with with the name coming from the curry spice and slathered on sausages Mandarin word kê-tsiap. The Chinese to make currywurst.
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made the sauce from fermented fish First sold in 1876, Heinz ketchup is still
brine and it became popular in Indonesia made using the secret recipe of just and Malaysia. five ingredients, including tomatoes grown
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Brit explorers brought it over in the in both the Mediterranean and California. 1700s, but couldn’t replicate it as the The recipe for the spice mix is safely locked sauce called for soya beans, which were away in a vault. Heinz invented today’s not available in Europe. Chefs experimented in-demand individual sachets in 1968.
● with oysters, walnuts and mushrooms Fans of Heinz tomato sauce include
as bases, but none was quite right. singer Ed Sheeran, who takes a stash
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They didn’t try tomatoes because on tour with him so he never has to do they were believed to be poisonous. without. He also has a tattoo of the logo. That theory was debunked, however, One of the first acting jobs of Friends star when it was discovered it was the lead in Matt Leblanc was in US Heinz ketchup ad.
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the pewter plates upper-class Europeans You can use ketchup to clean
were eating from that was the cause pots and pans, thanks to its
of the poisoning. high acidity. Apply a layer to the
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American horticulturist surface of the brass or stainless James Mease had the idea steel item you’re cleaning and let to use tomatoes to make the it sit for at least 30 minutes. Then sauce, and wrote the first recipe scrub to make it look like new. for tomato ketchup in 1812. Just don’t try it on clothes!
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It quickly grew in popularity In 2007, the art world was and by 1834, US doctor John fooled when paintings made Cook Bennett hailed it a miracle by toddler Freddie Linsky using cure for illnesses including cholera. tomato ketchup went on sale. His
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But by the 1860s, demand mother Estelle Lovatt claimed
combined with a short her son was an art critic and
tomato-growing season meant gave his works overblown captions,
manufacturers had to resort to which led to galleries
dodgy methods to keep it fresh, clamouring to show his works
including excessive preservatives and art collectors queuing up and even coal tar! It to buy them.
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led French cookbook author Ketchup could help you to Pierre Blot to dub it “filthy, live longer – kind of. It decomposed, and putrid”. contains lycopene, which has
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Ketchup is consumed in been linked to a number of benefits
different ways around the ranging from improved
world. In Thailand people dip heart health to protection against
crisps in it, in Sweden it’s eaten certain types of cancers.