The post has arrived!

To continue my tradition of wierd posts about nothing and yet, about everything, I have settled my mind and my keyboard to a new topic. Ketchup. The name in itself leads to conversation. Is it pronounced catsup or ketchup? No matter how you say it, most everybody loves it. As a matter of fact, it is historically America's favorite condiment. Ketchup can be found in 97% of all kitchens. That's a showing matched only by salt, pepper, sugar, and most recently, our 'south of the border' friend, salsa. Oddly enough, most of us wouldn't be willing to consume the original form of what we know call ketchup. In the early 1700's, it was called ke-tsiap or kecap and was popular in China. The original form was a spicy, pickled fish sauce made of anchovies, walnuts, mushrooms and kidney beans. Delicious, eh? Brittish seamen (hehe seamen. lol) brought the ke-tsiap home, and it became known as catchup and later ketchup. In the late 1700's some New England wise ass sought to make cathup better by adding tomatoes. America's #1 condiment was born. When Henry J. Heinz introduced commercial ketchup to American kitchens it became so popular that other manufacturers rushed to catch-up to the ketchup craze. Soon there were Ketchup, Catsup, Catchup, Katsup, Catsip, Cotsup, Kotchup, Kitsip, Catsoup, Katshoup, Katsock, Cackchop, Cornchop, Cotpock, Kotpock, Kutpuck, Kutchpuck and Cutchpuck. All were tomato based and bottled and vied to become a household word. Only 3 major brands remained to steal the spotlight...Heinz Ketchup, Del Monte Catsup, and Hunts, who could not decide on a spelling and bottled under the names Hunts Catsup (east of the Mississippi), Hunts Ketchup (west of the Mississippi), and Hunts Tomato Cornchops (in Iowa only). In the 1980's ketchup was declared a vegetable by the government for school lunch menus. Suddenly Del Monte's Catsup, because of its spelling, was not on the approved list. Shortly afterward Del Monte changed the product's name to Del Monte Ketchup. So ketchup it is.