
Ketchup (or less commonly catsup), also known as Tomato Ketchup, Tomato Sauce, Red Sauce, Tommy Sauce, Tommy K, or Dead Horse, is a condiment, usually made with ripened tomatoes. The basic ingredients in modern ketchup are tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, salt, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon. Onions, celery, and other vegetables are frequent additions.Ketchup started out as a general term for sauce, typically made of mushrooms or fish brine with herbs and spices. Some popular early main ingredients included blueberry, anchovy, oyster, lobster, walnut, kidney bean, cucumber, cranberry, lemon, celery and grape. Mushroom ketchup is still available in some countries, such as the UK, and banana ketchup is popular in the Philippines.Ketchup is often used with chips (french fries), hamburgers, sandwiches and grilled or fried meat. Ketchup with mayonnaise forms the base of Thousand Island dressing and fry sauce. Ketchup is also typically used as a base for barbecue sauce, especially in the Southern United States.