Hoopskirts

One more look at black walnuts in the 19th-century.  My previous posts focused on the amazing coloring properties of the husk.  Today it is time to look at the black walnut as food. I was very intrigued and a bit puzzled at the number of references to black walnut catsup/ketchup in cookbooks of the time.  Today tomato catsup is the sole survivor of a variety of catsups: tomato, grape, lemon, mushroom, cucumber, oyster, tomato, and black walnut, to name a few.  It is a shock to modern sensibility to realize that "ketchup" or "catsup" (both spellings were used) simply meant a vinegar based sauce.   The American Heritage Dictionary gives a good definition:                             Word History:  The word  ketchup  exemplifies the types of modifications that can take place in borrowing both of words and substances. The source of our word  ketchup  may be the Malay ...