What is the Difference Between Tomato Sauce and Ketchup

When it comes to ‘sauce’ and ‘ketchup’, we often consider them the same, but actually, they are not. If we go by the food historians ketchup is a sauce. Ketchup word originated from Chinese koechiap meaning ‘brine of fish’, or generally mentioned as ‘spicy sauce’; the word sauce is derived from Latin word salsas that means ‘salted’. According to historians, the sauce was actually invented for many reasons. It served the purpose of a cooking medium and was looked as a meat tenderizer and had the capability of enhancing the flavours too. And interestingly, there was no fixed recipe for this multi-functional dish, so its type and taste differs from culture to culture. With the commercialization and experimentation, the sauce is now a very household thing and many people make various types of sauces at home. The sauces can be of various viscosities which depends on the usage of the sauce. For instance, the sauce used for cooking will have less viscosity while the one used for dressing will have high viscosity. Ketchup is made with tomatoes, sugar, vinegar/acetic acid and spices. Whereas, tomato sauce is made from tomatoes, oil, meat or vegetable stock and spices. It never uses vinegar. Also, ketchup is cold in nature and is never served hot, while all varieties of sauces are served hot. To make it simpler, ketchup is made with a variety of spices while the sauce is generally made without spices. Another major point of difference between the two is, sauce generally does not contain sugar while ketchup has a specific amount of sugar and other sweet spices. Read below to know more about their origin and key differences.

Ketchup word originated from Chinese koechiap meaning ‘brine of fish’, or generally mentioned as ‘spicy sauce’; the word sauce is derived from Latin word salsas that means ‘salted’. Ketchup is originally supposed to have been invented in the seventeenth century and was related to a sauce that contained fish brine, herbs, and spices as main ingredients. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the term was used to refer to all the sauces with vinegar as one of the major ingredients. And it was only in early 20th century, that it got associated with tomato juice. (Image courtesy: Pixabay)

Ketchup is made with tomatoes, sugar, vinegar/acetic acid and spices. Whereas, tomato sauce is made from tomatoes, oil, meat or vegetable stock, spices and never uses vinegar. Also, ketchup is cold in nature and is never served hot, while all varieties of sauces are served hot. To make it simpler you can understand it as ketchup is made with a variety of spices while the sauce is generally made without spices. Another major point of difference between the two is, sauce generally does not contain sugar while ketchup has a specific amount of sugar and other sweet spices. (Image courtesy: Pixabay)

Ketchup is a sauce but not all sauces are Ketchup. Ketchup is what you have as condiment while sauces can also be thin gravies.