Ketchup was used as medicine
In 1834, Dr. John Cooke Bennet added tomatoes to ketchup. Previously, ketchup had been a concoction of fish or mushrooms.
The addition of tomatoes meant it added a a plethora of vitamins and antioxidants to the sauce.
He claimed his recipe could cure:
- Diarrhea
- Indigestion
- Jaundice
- Rheumatism
He had pill salesman, Archibald Miles, make his sauce into extract of tomato pills.
The Ketchup Wars
Once Dr. Bennet’s pills hit the market, brigades of copycats began selling their own tomato-based pills.
Unfortunately, some of these copycats simply sold laxatives with no trace of tomatoes. They also made wild claims that their pills could cure everything from scurvy to mend bones.
Due to the false claims, the ketchup medicine empire collapsed in 1850.
Now Heinz can’t sell their product in Israel as Ketchup because it contains about half of the tomato solids needed by law to carry that name. The snake oil salesmen are alive and well
lol I love ripleys so many amusing facts ketchup as medicine now a days its called dip dip by my 3 year old son lol
[…] and be welcomed by a smile from a friendly pharmacist—perhaps so friendly from partaking in the completely legal remedies behind the […]
What a wonderful fact and it is so very important to learn about our past because we evolve that way as well.