Ketchup was originally sold not as a condiment for your french fries, but as a legitimate medicine in the 1830s to cure ailments like diarrhea, indigestion, and jaundice.

A closer look

Ketchup was originally sold not as a condiment for your french fries, but as a legitimate medicine in the 1830s to cure ailments like diarrhea, indigestion, and jaundice. An Ohio physician named Dr. John Cook Bennett declared that tomatoes could cure severe gastrointestinal issues, and he began concentrating them into a pill form that sparked a massive national craze. Soon, snake oil salesmen were selling totally fake tomato pills that were basically just red-dyed laxatives, which completely destroyed the medicinal reputation of the fruit. By the time the dust settled, ketchup had pivoted away from the pharmacy shelf and rebranded itself as a tasty sugary sauce for hot dogs. It is fascinating to realize that our ancestors were aggressively medicating themselves with Heinz 57, treating a burger topping with the same reverence we now give to modern antibiotics