Was ketchup used as medicine?
Feeling queasy? In the 1830s, your doctor might have prescribed ketchup.
Which condiment was once sold as medicine? Today, ketchup is one of the most popular condiments in the world. But in the past, ketchup was used as medicine.
In the early 1800s, Americans were skeptical about tomatoes, worried that the nightshade was poisonous. Surprisingly, that didn’t stop some doctors from celebrating the medicinal qualities of ketchup.
When was ketchup used as medicine?
What was ketchup used for in the 1830s? Today, you might put ketchup on a burger or enjoy crispy, hot french fries dipped in ketchup. But 200 years ago, ketchup had a very different use.
In 1834, Dr. John Cooke Bennett invented a tomato ketchup that was a powerful cure. At the time, tomato ketchup was still a novelty. That’s because ketchup started as a very different food.
The Chinese borrowed a fish sauce from a Vietnamese recipe and called it “ke-tsiap.” Made from fermented fish and salt, the paste packed a punch. And when British traders tasted the sauce, they tried to recreate it back home, substituting new ingredients like mushrooms, anchovies, and walnuts.
It took until 1812 for tomatoes to appear in the recipe. Philadelphia doctor James Meade was the first to experiment with a tomato-based ketchup.
How was ketchup used as medicine?
How did doctors use ketchup as medicine? According to Bennett, who lived in Ohio, ketchup could cure indigestion, diarrhea, and jaundice.
These were common problems in the 1830s, when cholera outbreaks swept around the world. And in an era long before food safety regulations, indigestion could strike at any time. Jaundice, a side effect of liver damage, was also common in the 19th century.
It’s not surprising, then, that Bennett’s ketchup cure took off. Unlike many other medicines, ketchup wouldn’t harm the patient. The same wasn’t true for other patent medicines that contained mercury, lead, and cocaine.
Ketchup became so popular that Bennett even sold “tomato pills” as a cure-all supplement.
The Salem Tomato Trial
Tomatoes had a deadly reputation in 19th-century America. Skeptical Americans worried that tomatoes were poisonous. After all, tomatoes were in the nightshade family.
Horticulturalist Robert Gibbon Johnson decided to put tomatoes to the test in Salem, New Jersey. In front of a crowd of people, Johnson ate an entire basket of tomatoes in 1820.
To convince skeptical New Jersey farmers to plant the crop, Johnson used himself as a test subject.
“To help dispel the tall tales, the fantastic fables that you have been hearing,” Johnson reportedly declared, “And to prove to you that it is not poisonous I am going to eat one right now.”
Johnson bit into the first tomato. His audience watched with bated breath. Some reports even claim that a doctor monitored Johnson’s condition.
But Johnson didn’t die. After eating an entire basket of tomatoes, the horticulturalist remained healthy. “He’s done it,” someone in the crowd shouted, “He’s still alive.” After Johnson’s “trial,” tomatoes became a key crop in southern New Jersey.
Why was ketchup used as medicine?
Tomatoes were just one of many plants declared cure-all. Doctors also sold rhubarb, mustard, and dandelion as medicines. But that’s only part of why ketchup was used as medicine.
In the 1830s, many remained skeptical of tomatoes. Were they truly safe? But many believed that dangerous medicines were more effective.
The motto of 19th-century doctors was “bleed, blister, and purge.” Bloodletting was still a common medical treatment. Doctors intentionally caused blisters to treat fever, inflammation, and gout.
And purgatives were thought to remove “toxins” from the body. Essentially, doctors gave patients poisons that caused vomiting or diarrhea. Large doses of ipecac were thought to improve many illnesses. Mercury was also given as a purgative, even though it could cause people’s teeth to fall out.
Medicinal ketchup users might have put ketchup in the category of other purgatives sold in the 1800s.
If tomatoes really were poisonous, that just meant ketchup might be an even better medicine.
The Downfall of Ketchup as Medicine
Ketchup was such a popular medicine in the mid-19th century that it inspired copycats. Soon, many “doctors” were selling ketchup pills.
Newspaper ads from 1837 promoted Dr. Miles’ Compound Extract of Tomato. But Dr. Miles was no doctor at all — he was actually a merchant who lived in Cleveland. Still, his ads declared that his ketchup medicine could treat syphilis.
Soon, Dr. Guy R. Phelps began selling his own version of the tomato pill. Miles, furious at the attack on his business, declared Phelphs a “charlatan” and a “quack.” In response, Phelps proclaimed that Miles had “about as much claim to the title of doctor as my horse, and no more.”
By the 1850s, snake oil salesmen claimed that ketchup pills could even cure broken bones — which led to the collapse of the ketchup pill market.
Ironically, most tomato pills contained zero tomatoes. Tests on tomato pills found no trace of the plant.
While the “ketchup as medicine” trend died out, quacks continued to promote dangerous treatments that sometimes killed the patient — until the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act cracked down on dangerous medicines.
For more strange and fascinating stories from history, check out Bruce Wilson’s book Strange but True Stories: Fascinating Facts, Astonishing Trivia, and Conversation Starters from History, available in ebook, paperback, or audiobook.
Bruce Wilson Jr. is the author of nine books on history. Visit Bruce Wilson’s website to learn more.
