Ketchup (A to Z)

I love ketchup. I mean LOVE it. L.O.V.E. love. It's my favorite food right after chocolate and really food's just not worth eating without the stuff. Well, a couple things might be okay without it but really not all that many things. Dessert. Dessert's not good with ketchup. Pasta's a no go. Um....ah...hmmm...yeah, that's all I got, pasta and dessert. Though there are ketchup macaroons but I think really those would end up on the "things to never put in my mouth again" list and I'm so not going there.

Yep, I've been known to go on a midnight ketchup run when, horror of all horrors, the bottle turns up empty and the backups have all managed to run out. It's a rare, rare thing but it has happened a time or two. 

The bigger the bottle the better. Those teeny tiny ones you get at hotels are really pretty damn cute but really you need 2 or 3 for a single meal! If I could get a bottle like <------ that one. Whoboy! I'd be all over that! Bliss!

It's delicious on eggs. On macaroni and cheese or mashed potatoes. Veggie burgers and dogs. Plantains and fries of all kinds.  Hashbrowns and frittatas. Quiches too. Nice in baked beans and on BBQ sandwiches.

Now, I'm a Hunt's girl through and through but even Heinz will do in a pinch. I did love when they started putting funny sayings on the bottles. That was a hoot! And the fact that you can get customized "talking" bottles really kicks ass. What a freaking brilliant idea! Heinz definitely have the market on advertising. Just so much awesome! But still Hunt's will always be my Ketchup!

So, a wee bit of history...Ketchup actually dates way back to China in the 1690s but was then based on pickled fish. Yikes! It's come in all kinds of forms since then. Mushroom, banana, lemon and all sorts of fruits, muscles, cucumber and even walnuts. It took a while for tomato ketchup to catch on because people thought tomatoes were poisonous! (But thank goodness for me it did!) 

And my most favoritest of all...back in 1981 someone at the USDA actually proposed it be classified as a vegetable. Seriously the man of my dreams ;) Personally I think they were brilliant but alas the proposal was dropped. 

And. Oh. My. Cute! If I ever have a kid they are SO going to end up in one of these! Wonder if I could find a kitty version?! I do believe Miss Gladys NEEDS one of these!