Happy Ketchup Day! Tomato Ketchup under the microscope book and fear of consuming it still exists today
Photo credit: Foodimentary.com
I was watching the morning news here in Philadephia, PA, USA this morning. It was FOX 29 and they have what is best described as a roving reporter named Steve Keeley, who saw a ketchup packet at the place where he was reporting from. He mentioned that after seeing what ketchup looked like under a microscope when he was young and after a teacher had passed around a book explaining the pitfalls of ketchup that he would never touch the stuff ever again and never has.
Apparently, there was book written in 1911, I've done a good bit of research and it states that it was never copyrighted according to a government investigator named Judy Jordan, so I feel it is safe to post a snippet of the first page or so here for people to see. Needless to say, this document is over 100 years old and was published by the US Department of Agriculture. A lot has changed since then. I've done my fair share Google image searches and see some mixed results of things like the skin of the tomato still being in ketchup, but that is what I would expect to see. This publication is 26 pages long and I'd be happy to share it somehow in PDF form for its interesting insights of how things were then. I have to believe that things are far better nowadays.
Nonetheless, it is National Ketchup Day, so enjoy it however you see fit. I can't imagine they would have had such a day back in 1911, based on this old text though. It is rather interesting that people in their 50's and 60's remember this book and will not eat ketchup to this day though.
Content credit: B.J. Howard
Note the negative undertones in how it full of bacteria and it just seems like they practically putting the stuff in the category of a poison. It is amazing how far we have come. My research also shows a lot of people not so much concerned about bacteria and things like that any more. The newest concern is the high fructose corn syrup and the concerns about the usage of MSG. Lots of people are raving about making their own ketchup because of it.
I for one, have to have what I consider the gold standard, which is Heinz ketchup. I can tell if it is anything else, even if it is something close like Hunt's. I need the Heinz!
Growing up, ketchup was it's own food group. And, as you point out, it had to be Heinz, or nothing. Del Monte, Hunts or any private label concoction were simply pretenders and unacceptable substitutes for the real McCoy, Heinz.
Beyond the standard hamburgers, hot dogs and, of course, french fries, I would have it on scrambled eggs, frozen burritos and bacon. Chicken nuggets weren't a thing when I was young, but I suspect I would have used it on them. However, I would only have ketchup on fish sticks if the tartar sauce ran out.
I'm sure there were other things that had to be paired with the glorious red sauce when I was young, but the above menu covers the most important things... at least as I remember.
Now that I'm older and have to watch my sugars and carbs, ketchup is a rarity. Not because I don't want it, but because the foods I pair up with it are becoming more and more verboten. Bacon, one of the things they say I can indulge in moderately (when it used to be verboten), isn't the same without ketchup. And it is the one thing I still insist on having with my old condiment friend.
Bacon and ketchup. Best Friends Forever.
I have to admit, I have never have ketchup with bacon except accidentally perhaps on a hot dog or hamburger as part of the overall mix. I like it just fine. I can see why you would like that @matthias-green - it works.
I also hate seeing people refilling the Heinz bottles in restaurants with some mystery ketchup coming from a big 2 gallon plastic tub jar. I know people in the bar and restaurant business and some have clearly said that the refill is a generic. That is just straight up wrong.
Remember when President Reagan tried to make ketchup get classified as a vegetable as part of the school lunch program requirements? That was a bit of a piece of bad advice he took from his advisers. :)
Ha! I hadn't remembered that about Reagan. Although I see the silliness in it now. as a youngster, he would have had my full support!
As for "re-fillers", I agree. Anyone who is willing to stoop so low as to put a knock-off sauce into the venerated bottle of the master in order to perpetrate a fraud, should be hung by their thumbs. Like any counterfeiter does, their crime is one that not only steals our money, but deflates our trust in humanity. Luckily, my long years of experience and loyalty to the King of Ketchup, I can spot a fraud with just a small taste.
In any case, thanks for the post. It was fun... I hadn't realized I still had such a passion for ketchup! ;^)
I did double-double research to make sure this wasn't copyrighted, and it is definitely not. I uploaded a PDF version of this publication from 1911 at the following link personally, if anyone would like to read it for a chuckle. There are no risks associated with looking at the file. I'm not trying to get myself kicked off here.
Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Blake
Click on this link to view the aged publication spooking people about ketchup to this very day. Poor souls. :(
https://nofile.io/f/fvu1DydOAjv/tomatoketchupund00howarich.pdf
Why is it not a national holiday lol, ketchup is the greatest.
According to https://www.eventguide.com/today/months/18jun_list.htm
These are are the holidays just for today alone: June 5, 2018, Tuesday
Ketchup Day
National Veggie Burger Day
National Gingerbread Day
Sausage Roll Day
National Hunger Awareness Day (1st Tue)
World Environment Day
Women's Golf Day (1st Tue)
Festival of Popular Delusions Day
Hot Air Balloon Day
National Attitude Day
National Healthcare Recruiter Recognition Day (1st Tue)
Arbor Day (New Zealand)
Constitution Day (Denmark)
Apple ][ Day
They seem to have left off the list, that this is the day Robert F. Kennedy was shot. He did not die until the next day, but today was the day of the actual shooting. :(
Oh man thats a tragedy, we should remember our nations hero’s before anything else!
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