Ketchup Was Sold as Medicine in the 1830s

In the early 19th century, many Americans viewed the tomato with deep suspicion, believing it to be a poisonous member of the nightshade family. It was against this backdrop that an Ohio physician, Dr. John Cook Bennett, began championing the fruit not merely as edible, but as a potent health tonic. This was the golden age of patent medicines, where entrepreneurs made bold, often unproven, claims about cure-all elixirs, and Bennett saw a unique opportunity in the humble tomato.

Starting in 1834, Bennett began promoting a concentrated tomato ketchup as a remedy for common ailments like indigestion, diarrhea, and even jaundice. To make his "medicine" more convenient and marketable, he collaborated with a pill manufacturer to sell it in extract form. This "tomato pill" became a sensation, sparking a nationwide craze. Soon, the market was flooded with copycat products from other sellers who made even more outlandish claims, promising their pills could cure everything from scurvy to broken bones.

The fad collapsed by the 1850s after it was exposed that many of these competing pills were fraudulent, containing laxatives and other ingredients but no actual tomato. The scandal tarnished the idea of ketchup as medicine. While Dr. Bennett's specific claims were greatly exaggerated, he was unknowingly on the right track about the fruit's benefits. Modern science has confirmed that tomatoes are packed with antioxidants like lycopene and valuable nutrients such as vitamin C, making them a genuinely healthy addition to our diet, just not quite the miracle cure he advertised.