Geads News

“You were never one to put ketchup on everything,” reads a message from my sister inside a copy of River Cottage Every Day by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, which she gave me for my 18th birthday.

That may be true, but there are few things I love more than ketchup, the red sauce that enhances (almost) any meal. I’ve always washed it down very generously with fries, hot dogs, burgers, ready meals (from chicken kyiv to lasagna) and even roast potatoes. Perhaps it comes from my grandfather, a general practitioner, who insisted on a spoonful a day.

For all the mustards, mayos, and brown sauces lining my fridge door, ketchup tops the list. And, yes, it must be Heinz. It has the right balance between sweetness and vinegar; the perfect viscosity, ever so slightly gloopy; the vivid bright red color, as opposed to the almost vibrant pink of the cheaper options. It’s fluid, unlike the posh (God forbid) options that infiltrate middle-class households.

So I was worried this week when disturbing news emerged from Aarhus University in Denmark. As if the past two years hadn’t been bad enough, it seems my beloved tomato condiment is in danger.

According to the researchers, this mainstay of our tables (around 2.6 million people in the UK use ketchup at least once a day) could one day be harder to find, and arguably more expensive. That’s because climate change threatens the production of tomatoes, the key ingredient in ketchup. Ketchup is made from a variety of fruits known as “processing tomatoes”, which are grown mostly in fields. These go into canned tomatoes, tomato puree and other processed products. Tomatoes grown for fresh consumption, on the other hand, tend to be grown in controlled environments, such as greenhouses.

Globally, around 180 million tons of tomatoes are grown each year, the majority in the United States, Italy and China. The research found that by 2050 there could be a 6% decline. But the news is worse for future generations: between 2050 and 2100, climate change could halve the tomato harvest. Warmer temperatures are to blame, as they accelerate a plant’s growth, resulting in shorter fruit development time and, therefore, lower yield. A heat wave in California in 2021 led to a harvest 10% lower than forecast.

Scientists will likely find an alternative (genetically modified tomatoes could soon be sold in this country, for example), but what are the options if a ketchup apocalypse occurs? Ketchup, of course, wasn’t originally made with tomatoes. Etymologically, ketchup probably derives from the Malay or Chinese Amoy dialect, where condiments with similar names include fermented fish or soy sauce.

In this country it was first made with mushrooms, appearing in 18th century cookbooks, while 19th century tomato ketchups often included anchovy. As journalist Felicity Cloake writes in her new book, Red Sauce Brown Sauce, “strictly speaking, both red sauce and brown sauce are ketchups, the generic name for what the Oxford Companion to Food describes as ‘a range of salty, spicy, rather liquid sauces. seasoning’.” Mushroom ketchup is fairly easy to find today, but bears little resemblance to the modern version of the tomato, and is therefore not a great substitute. Although I recently switched to brown for the sausages, preferring its tamarind flavor, it doesn’t cut the mustard for the fries.

You can, of course, make ketchup fairly easily from virtually any fruit or vegetable. There’s banana ketchup, which is popular in the Philippines, while black garlic ketchup has become popular in restaurants here. If you have an overabundance of zucchini, you can even make ketchup out of it, although I expect it to be rather bland.

Nothing, to me, beats a tomato, so your last option is to make it yourself. Often, I find that homemade versions are not up to par: too thick or too thin; little; not sweet or vinegary enough; too healthy taste.

This recipe from Telegraph columnist Xanthe Clay, however, comes impressively close, giving Heinz a run for his money. If the scientists’ prediction comes true, be sure to have a few jars in the cupboard. Long live the tomato ketchup.