Mushroom ketchup

Mushroom ketchup is a style of ketchup (also spelled "catsup") that is prepared with mushrooms as its primary ingredient. Originally, ketchup in the United Kingdom was prepared with mushrooms as a primary ingredient, instead of tomato, the main ingredient in contemporary preparations of ketchup. Historical preparations involved packing whole mushrooms into containers with salt. It is used as a condiment and may be used as an ingredient in the preparation of other sauces and other condiments. Several brands of mushroom ketchup were produced and marketed in the United Kingdom, some of which were exported to the United States, and Geo Watkins Mushroom Ketchup continues to exist in contemporary times as a commercially mass-produced product.

In the United Kingdom, ketchup was historically made with mushrooms as a primary ingredient. The result was sometimes referred to as "mushroom ketchup". In contemporary times, ketchup's primary ingredient is typically tomato. Mushroom ketchup appears to have originated in Great Britain. In the United States, mushroom ketchup dates back to at least 1770 in English-speaking colonies in North America. A manuscript cookbook from Charleston, South Carolina that was written in 1770 by Harriott Pinckney Horry documented a mushroom ketchup that used two egg whites to clarify the mixture. This manuscript also contained a recipe for walnut ketchup. Richard Briggs's The English Art of Cookery, first published in 1788, has recipes for both mushroom ketchup and walnut ketchup.

The preparation of mushroom ketchup involved packing whole mushrooms into containers with salt, allowing time for the liquid from the mushrooms to fill the container, and then cooking them to a boiling point in an oven. They were finished with spices such as mace, nutmeg and black pepper, and then the liquid was separated from solid matter by straining it. Several species of edible mushrooms were used in its preparation. Some versions used vinegar as an ingredient. The final product had a dark color that was derived from the mushroom spores that transferred from the mushrooms to the solution. The version in The English Art of Cookery calls for dried mushrooms to be used for the ketchup's preparation. This version also uses red wine in the ketchup's preparation, and uses a cooking reduction, in which one-third of the product is reduced, after which the final product is bottled.

...
Wikipedia