Ketchup and Catsup

Why are there two different spellings for ketchup and catsup?

It's a cultural thing.

Ketchup originated in 17th century China, and was called Ke-tsiap or Kecap. It was a spicy pickled-fish condiment. In the late 1700s, New Englanders added tomatoes to the blend and called it ketchup.

In 1876, Heinz produced their ketchup with tomatoes and introduced it to American kitchens. Heinz led the way for more manufacturers, who called the condiment many different things, including catchup, katsup, catsip, kitsip, cotpock, cutchpuck and catsup, among others.

All of these were tomato-based and bottled, but only three major brands evolved to dominate the market -- Heinz, Del Monte and Hunts.

Heinze and Del Monte use ketchup. Hunts is sticking to catsup.

So there you go.

Comments

[ClayW]

I once watched a TV show on this. There really is no difference. It's a brand thing.

[David Lauri]

"Hunts is sticking to catsup."

Not if you visit hunts.com. There they say ketchup.