In the 19th century ketchup and tomato preparations were marketed in the United States as remedies for digestive complaints such as diarrhea and indigestion, a curious chapter in the condiment’s history that began when physicians and entrepreneurs promoted tomatoes as having healthful properties.
Origins and early recipes
Tomato ketchup evolved from earlier European and Asian sauces; the first American tomato ketchup recipes appeared in the early 1800s and by the 1830s remedies and tonic formulations using tomatoes or concentrated ketchup were being sold to consumers who believed in their therapeutic value.
Medical marketing and products
Manufacturers and patent‑medicine sellers packaged tomato extracts and even "tomato pills" as cure‑alls for digestive troubles, advertising them as aids for diarrhea, indigestion and other common ailments until changing food safety standards and commercial food production shifted ketchup’s role toward culinary use.
Transition from medicine to condiment
As industrial food processing, commercial brands and refrigeration developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ketchup’s flavour, consistency and convenience made it a popular table sauce rather than a medicinal product, eventually becoming the ubiquitous condiment familiar today.
Legacy and cultural note
The medical marketing of ketchup highlights how changing scientific beliefs, commercial interests and food culture interact, turning a once‑marketed health tonic into an iconic culinary staple that now appears in refrigerators around the world rather than medicine cabinets.
Quick related facts
- Early recipes: American tomato ketchup recipes date to the early 1800s.
- Medical claims: marketed for diarrhea and digestive issues in the 19th century.
- Commercial shift: became a popular condiment as food industry practices evolved.