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Open the fridge. What products are certainly on its door? Of course, ketchup is a universal condiment, which is suitable for almost any dish.
We have gathered 5 interesting facts about this sauce.
Ketchup was invented in China
It seems that someone could think, where did this main ingredient for pasta and pizza come from? Of course from America! So most people think so. In fact, the story of ketchup is longer and more interesting. Researchers believe that this sauce came to us from Asia. Most likely, from China.
This is evidenced by the title. Translated from the Chinese dialect, “ke-tsiap” means “fish sauce”. It was prepared based on the soybean, adding the nuts and mushrooms. And notice, no tomatoes were added! Then the Asian seasoning comes to Britain, then to America, where local chefs came up with the idea to add to the tomato to ketchup.
The real popularity came to the ketchup in the 19th century
Its merit belongs to businessman Henry Heinz. Thanks to him, the Americans realized that ketchup can make the most simple and flavorless dish to become more interesting and gain richer taste. In 1896 the newspaper very surprised readers when the New York Times called ketchup “national American spice.” And since then tomato sauce continues to be a mandatory element of any table.
The ketchup bottle you can drink in half a minute
In the “Guinness Book of world records” regularly fixed achievements on the drinking of sauce at a time. 400 g of ketchup (the contents of a standard bottle), the experimenters usually drink through a straw. And do it faster. The current record is 30 seconds.
The biggest bottle of ketchup was created in Illinois
It’s a water tower with a height of 50 meters. It was built in the mid-20th century to supply water to the local plant for the production of ketchup. Well decorated with a giant tank in the form of a bottle of ketchup. Its volume – about 450 thousand liters. Since “the biggest catsup bottle in the world” is the main tourist attraction of the town in which it stands. And local enthusiasts even hold in her honor an annual festival.
Ketchup can be subjected to heat treatment
So it is added not only in finished products but also at the stage of sautéing or baking. Just remember that it already contains the spices, so add seasonings carefully. By the way, thanks to this sauce you can experiment not only with taste but also with the dishes. For example, the Scottish chef Domenico Crolla has become famous for his pizzas: they do cheese and ketchup paints in the form of portraits of famous people. His creations have “lit up” Arnold Schwarzenegger, Beyonce, Rihanna, Kate Middleton, and Marilyn Monroe.