Ketchup Was Sold as Medicine in the 1830s

Today, ketchup is the world's most popular condiment, squirted on fries and slathered on burgers. But in the 1830s, this tomato-based sauce was being marketed as a powerful cure-all medicine that could treat everything from diarrhea to jaundice.

The man behind this bizarre medical claim was Dr. John Cook Bennett, a physician and amateur botanist living in Ohio. In 1834, Bennett made a provocative announcement in the press: tomatoes had miraculous medicinal properties. At the time, many Americans actually feared tomatoes, believing the bright red fruit (yes, fruit) was poisonous because it belonged to the deadly nightshade family.

From Condiment to Cure-All

Bennett didn't just write about tomatoes—he turned them into a business. He began selling concentrated tomato ketchup as medicine, claiming it could cure diarrhea, indigestion, rheumatism, and even jaundice. His marketing was so persuasive that he soon partnered with a pill manufacturer named Archibald Miles to create a more portable version of his remedy.

The result? Tomato pills. These concentrated ketchup pills, marketed as "Dr. Miles' Compound Extract of Tomato," became wildly popular. For roughly 16 years, from 1834 to 1850, tomato ketchup was one of the hottest medicines in America.

The Scheme Unravels

The medicinal ketchup craze couldn't last forever. As with many health fads, imitators flooded the market with their own versions, making increasingly outrageous claims. Some promised their tomato pills could cure scurvy, mend broken bones, and treat virtually any ailment imaginable.

There was just one problem: none of it was true. Independent studies found no evidence that tomatoes or ketchup had any of the medical benefits Bennett claimed. Even worse, some of the knockoff pills didn't contain tomatoes at all—they were just laxatives in disguise.

By 1850, the public had caught on to the scam. Demand for medicinal ketchup collapsed, and Dr. Bennett's reputation crumbled along with it. The physician was later excommunicated from religious institutions amid accusations of adultery, treason, and even murder. Not exactly the resume of a trustworthy doctor.

The Legacy

While Bennett's medical claims were bogus, his impact on American food culture was real. His aggressive marketing helped convince Americans that tomatoes weren't poisonous, paving the way for them to become a dietary staple. Within a few decades, tomatoes went from feared to beloved, and ketchup evolved from snake oil to the condiment we know today.

So the next time you squeeze ketchup on your burger, remember: you're enjoying what was once considered cutting-edge medicine. Just don't expect it to cure your indigestion.