Ketchup was sold as medicine in the 1830's
In late 1837 Dr. A. J. Holcombe credited Bennett with the introduction of tomatoes “as a medicine, in its crude state [raw].” The credit was misplaced; many physicians had promoted them before and, in Continental Europe the tomato’s medicinal properties had been endorsed since sixteenth century (1500s).At about the same time Holcombe began advertising tomato pills in Greensboro, Alabama. Not much later, he announced their availability through the Botanico-Medical Recorder. His extract of tomato pills, he said, possessed “hepatic, cathartic and diuretic qualities.”
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