“Take two shakes of Heinz, and call me in the morning.”

The genesis of ketchup that we know today came from China in the late 17th century. It was then, a Chinese brine sauce called by foreigners “Ketsiap.” There was no tomatoes in the original. It would not contain any until the spicy additive spread through Europe and eventually found its way across the ocean in the 18th century.

By November 1834, Dr. John Cook Bennett, an Ohio physician, declared tomatoes could be used successfully in the treatment of diarrhea, violent bilious attacks, and dyspepsia. Other doctors at the time were also experimenting with tomatoes as a medicine. Further fuel to the fire were the published recipes of Dr. Bennett for raw tomatoes, ketchup, and tomato sauce that generated public interest.

Archibald Miles, a travelling merchant, relocated to Ohio in 1824. One of the items he sold, was a patented medicine, American Hygiene Pill. In the spring of 1837, he met Dr. Bennett, who suggested he change the name, and instead sell “Extract of Tomato Pills.” Soon, after much work in his “laboratory,” he began selling Dr. Miles’ Compound Extract of Tomato that would popularize, like many other ketchup and tomato medicines of that period, a universal curing for a variety of ailments like jaundice, bilious disease, rheumatism, coughs and headaches.

Competition was fierce, and soon, the Tomato Pill War broke out in 1838 for market dominance.

Tomatoes have since receded from its heyday as a purported cure-all medicine. Today we know tomatoes and ketchup as a health food and a condiment, respectively. Would you have it any other way?