The Weird History of Ketchup

Ketchup was once sold as medicine. In the 1830s, an Ohio doctor claimed it could cure everything from indigestion to jaundice. That’s right — long before it became a burger essential, ketchup was bottled up and sold as a health tonic.

In 1834, Dr. John Cook Bennett of Ohio began promoting tomato-based ketchup as a cure-all. He claimed it could treat diarrhea, indigestion, and even jaundice. He published papers and teamed up with pharmacists to turn tomatoes into concentrated “extracts” — essentially, ketchup pills.

Why tomatoes? At the time, they were a relatively new food in the U.S., and many believed they had powerful medicinal properties. Tomatoes are high in antioxidants like lycopene, so there was some science behind the hype — though definitely not enough to treat serious illness.

Of course, the medical claims didn’t hold up for long. By the late 1800s, ketchup had shifted from pharmacy shelves to kitchen tables, especially after companies like Heinz began mass-producing it (minus the medicine talk).

Still, it’s wild to think that ketchup was once considered a miracle drug.