Catsup or Ketchup?

At the H.J. Heinz Company, Director of Global Corporate Affairs Michael Mullen said, it’s ketchup.

Heinz produced its first bottle of the salty red sauce in 1876. However, Mullen said the company’s first product was horseradish, in 1867.

Ketchup is tomato concentrate. The tomato concentrate consists of ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, sale, spice, onion powder and other natural flavorings, according to the back of a half-used bottle.

About 25 tomatoes go into an average-size glass bottle, Mullen said. The company produces about 400 million bottles of ketchup a year.

The salty substance has nutritional value, Mullen said. Ketchup contains lycopene, an antioxidant. Studies have shown that consuming lycopene can prevent certain types of cancer.

However, Mullen said, a serving of ketchup does not equal a serving of vegetables.

Heinz Ketchup is produced year-round, Mullen said. Consumers also buy the product year-round, but Mullen said he thinks consumption increases during the summer months.

“I think you see a spike during the summer, when people start to barbeque,” he said.

In the United States, most people put ketchup on hamburgers and hot dogs, Mullen said, but in other countries, ketchup combinations vary.

In Sweden, the most popular combination is ketchup and pasta.

“They use it instead of marinara sauce,” he said.

United Kingdom supermodel Caprice uses the red sauce as hair conditioner, Mullen said.

Sophomore Jenna Hooper said she uses it on normal things like hamburgers and eggs. But sometimes, Hooper said she puts it on other things.

“If we are out of sour cream I put it on tacos,” she said.

Hooper said she usually uses the shake method to get the ketchup out of the bottle. If that doesn’t work, she said she turns it upside down and waits for it come to the top.

Mullen recommended gently tapping the glass-embossed “57” on the side of the bottle to release the ketchup from the bottle.

“It’s been proven to be the best way over time,” he said.

Speaking of 57, the “57 varieties” statement doesn’t refer to varieties of ketchup, Mullen said, or even the number of Heinz products.

Mullen said that founders the Heinz brothers decided to write the slogan on the bottle as a marketing strategy, hinting that the company had 57 products.

In reality, Mullen said, the company had over 60 products, but the founders thought the number ’57” sounded more appealing.

Going back to the catsup vs. ketchup debate, Mullen said the dictionary says it can be spelt either way.

“Ketchup originated from a Chinese sauce pronounced catsup, so people spell it either way,” Mullen said.

The product has two different museums with large exhibits devoted to the red sauce, Mullen said. Fans can either visit the Senator John Heinz History Center History Museum in Pittsburgh or the London Sauces Museum in England.

Hooper said she probably wouldn’t visit either of the museums.

“If I was in Pittsburgh or London, I would want to see other things.”