Kecap or ke-tsiap or ketchup ? the possibly most popular sauce in the world has many theories regarding to its name origin. Most of us know that Ketchup is related to tomates and that's why it's red. Well, in fact, tomato ketchup is the modern version of ketchup. How did the former ketchups look like ?

There are several theories to the etymological origin of the word "Ketchup". The most known theory is that the word originated in China.

Andrew F . Smith wrote all known derivation attempts extensively in his book "Pure Ketchup". The British cookbook author Elizabeth David believes that ketchup was derived from the English term caveach, a vinegar-containing marinade for cooked fish. The US anthropologist E. N. Anderson favours the origin of the French word escavech, means generally "food in sauce"

The most known perception is that the word "Ketchup" comes from Eastern Asia or South-East Asia. In the 19-th century there was the assumptio, Ketchup comes from the Malayan. Nevertheless, in Malay dictionaries the word is ascribed in chinese language. In Oxford English Dictionary one can find the theory that it concerns an anglizication from kê-tsiap, a word from the Amoy dialect in China, which means a spicy fish sauce. 

Another possibility is the origin from the indonesian language. This is of course my favourite theory :-) . In Indonesian, Kecap simply means sauce. However it is used mostly for a fermented sauce of black say beans.This meaning would accord with the early prescriptions for kechtup in english cookbooks. Ketchup has originally nothing to do with tomatoes. 

For the first time the word Ketchup / Catchup appeard in the english dicitionary at the end of 17-th century and was defined as "high East-India sauce" (fine East Indian sauce). "East India" was at that time a general name for South Asia and South-East Asia, not especially for Indonesia. The first recipe for "english ketchup" was published in 1727. As ingredients : anchovies, shallots, white wine vinegar, white wine and different spices. This recipe resembled a fish sauce.  

In 1732 Richard Bradley published a ketchup recipe in a magazine with the clue, that it comes from „Bencoulin in the East Indies “. Bencoulin was a british administered settlement in Sumatra. The most important ingredient for this ketchup was kidney beans as a substitute for soy beans, since they weren't easy to get in Europe; the consistency of the sauce corresponded rather to a paste and was diluted with liquid when required.

The new sauce called ketchup became quickly popular in England and its different recipes were published in all cookbooks. The preparation mostly occurred either on the base of mushrooms, fish or walnuts. Nevertheless, there were also variations with mussels and oysters. With the help of the british cookbooks ketchup also became popular in the USA. Then in 1812 the first recipe appeared on the base of mashed tomatoes. Possibly it was inspired by the recipes for italian tomato sauce, which had appeared in 1804 in Great Britain.

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