Mrs Schultheis and Mrs Bingham were pillars of Pennsylvanian society. They first brewed tomato ketchup in whisky barrels in 1869. This was by no means unique. At the turn of the century there were an estimated 9000 ketchups being marketed. It is so ubiquitous that today "meat and two veg" in the States refers to burgers, chips (US: fries) and ketchup. In 1981 the Reagan administration tried to classify it as a vegetable to save money on the federal school-lunch budget. Heinz emerged as the pre-eminent manufacturer largely on the strength of its preservative-free food policy at the beginning of the 1900's. Tomato ketchup had a fairly murky start in life as a by-product of the canning industry. The rotten and misshapen bits were scooped up from the gutter, fermented in barrels and then boiled up in kettles over wood fires. This often scorched the mixture. In addition, it suffered from 'black neck' - the darkening of the sauce at the neck of the bottle when ferric compounds oxidise. Heinz Tomato Ketchup was first marketed in the United Kingdom in 1946.
Heirloom describes a fruit or vegetable which has a long family tree and has withstood the tests of time.
Flushed pink and heavily scented muscat grapes which have only a brief, month-long season when they are harvested. They are good eaten with cheese.
Small, sweet native oysters from the Helford river in Cornwall.
Surf clam. A large, ovoid clam, anything up to 15 cm (6 inches) across, with a yellowish-white shell with brown zig-zag markings, found in abundance in deep waters off the eastern coast of North America and South East Asia. This is most often cooked as one ingredient as part of a dish with many ingredients or in tinned, prepared dishes.
The hen of the woods ia frilled fungus with many caps that grows on trees and which is edible when it is very young. This mushroom is quite fragrant and versatile, and is delicious in Western cuisine as well as in Japanese. It is widely cultivated, appearing in autumn (US: fall). It is apparently known as hen of the woods because its texture is similar to that of chicken breast. (If gathering mushrooms you must be absolutely certain what you have before you eat them as many are very poisonous.)
Edible seaweed which is prolific on the northern coasts of the British Isles. Known as bladderlocks in England.
