In the 60's and 70's there was, allegedly, a condiment called "ketchup
salt" with the consistency of salt and the flavor of tomato ketchup.
It may have only been available the Chicagoland area. It is possible that the
product was patented, though if it was, it was patented before 1976 and so
USPTO searches are trickier. Unfortunately, a search for "ketchup
salt" returns 488793984983 answers for recipes involving ketchup,
comma, salt. For a variety of personal reasons, I
would like to find definitive (in Internet-terms) proof that this
product actually existed; in particular, if it was patented, a
reference to the patent and
inventor would be appreciated.

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Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 13 Jun 2005 04:11 PDT

Hello thomasptacek-ga,

Yes. Using ?ketchup salt? as a search term doesn?t work. Instead, I
tried the following combinations:
   <ketchup flavored>
   <flavored salt>
   <ketchup flavored salt>

With these search terms I came up with lots of flavored salts. The
closest to what you?re looking for is Ketchup Popcorn Pal. Look over
the following links and see if the collections will answer your
question regarding the probability of a ketchup flavored salt. In any
case, I bet there would be a market for it.

KETCHUP FLAVORED
----------------
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/ketchup_20fries
ketchup fries

http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?snack_code=1747
Mister Bee Ketchup Flavored Potato Chips

http://www.ams.usda.gov/fqa/aa20346.htm
CATSUP (KETCHUP, CATCHUP), FLAVORED

http://www.americanspice.com/catalog/30008/Popcorn_and_Seasonings/Ketchup_Popcorn_Pal.html?show_size=1&DEPT=9&ORIG=2&PAGE=AW&_ssess_=SEARCH_ENGINE
Ketchup Popcorn Pal

FLAVORED SALTS
--------------
http://www.faeriesfinest.com/salts.html
Gourmet Salts (NO ketchup flavored salt)

http://www.napastyle.com/store/product.jsp?sku=1336&breadcrumb=%3Ca+href%3D%22%2Findex.jsp%22%3EHome%3C%2Fa%3E
NapaStyle Naturally Flavored Salts Set -- Sundried Tomato Garlic Gray Salt

http://www.dietbites.com/calories/fire-salts.html
Diet Fire Salts, Flavored Salts

http://promomagazine.com/news/marketing_clamato_puts_flavored/
CLAMATO PUTS FLAVORED SALTS ON-PACK (celery, lemon/lime, and chili)
 
http://www.mortonsalt.com/consumer/products/foodsalts/sugarcure.htm
Morton flavored salts (NO ketchup)

I look forward to your clarification.

~ czh ~

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Clarification of Question by thomasptacek-ga on 14 Jun 2005 10:41 PDT

"Ketchup Popcorn Pal" is indeed close, but close inspection of the
package reveals that the mixture contains more corn syrup and sugar
solids than salt (which is even less prevalent than tomato powder in
that product).

Ketchup fries and ketchup potato chips are well-represented
(particularly in canada, evidently); I have to assume that, if you can
powder and apply cheese to chips, ketchup is not a huge challenge.

Some additional details, acquired recently, that did not help me in the least:

The likely manufacturer of the product was Kadison Laboratories, under
the brand "Executive Chef". For a variety of reasons I can't resolve
my issue just by claiming to know the brand, and so I'm still seeking
evidence that the product existed.

See the following for a discussion

http://www.talkaboutprofessions.com/group/alt.inventors/messages/59021.html

That's a guy claiming to have thought up ketchup salt recently; I
think it's also a joke.

I believe that ketchup salt is no joke, but rather an important part
of culinary ethnography of the 1960's midwest.