Memorial Day BBQ: 7 fun facts about ketchup while you wait for it

To celebrate – or just kill time at the holiday cookout while you're waiting for the ketchup in your bottle it to make that slow slide out of the opening and onto your fries, burger or, who knows, eggs – let us regale you with a few fun facts about the Kraft Heinz, which is marking its 150th birthday in 2019.

To start, the company sells everything from Oscar Mayer meats and Ore-Ida fries to Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Velveeta, Maxwell House coffee. But the Heinz name is inextricably blended with ketchup.

Here are seven facts about the ketchup company that actually started with horseradish.

1. Wait, Heinz started with horseradish?

Although most people associate the name Heinz first with ketchup, that's not the first condiment the business manufactured. That distinction belongs to horseradish, you know, that pungent sauce made from the large, white root of the horseradish plant. Heinz debuted with his mom's horseradish recipe in 1869.

By the way, ol' H.J. got into the biz at the ripe age of 8 years old. He started by selling produce from his mother’s garden.

2. So is it "ketchup" or "catsup"?

Well, the answer is yes. Back when Henry John Heinz – better known as H.J. – debuted the condiment for sale in 1876, his Pittsburgh-founded company called it "catsup." They're the same thing, though the condiment didn't originally feature tomatoes – thus the distinction "tomato ketchup" actually isn't redundant. Heinz first introduced its tomato-based ketchup in 1876. And a tomato didn't make it onto the packaging until 2009. What was there before? A pickle. (Pickles were the centerpiece of Heinz' branding from the 1800s.)

3. That ubiquitous ketchup bottle.

Sure, now the ketchup bottle is the usual greeter at many of our favorite eateries these days.

Decades before "transparency" became an industry buzzword, Heinz chose to sell his food in see-through glass bottles, rather than then-popular opaque brown ones. Why? He wanted "to showcase his products’ quality and purity," according to the company.

So in 1948, the company introduced the world to its octagonal glass bottle, which has become visually intertwined with the condiment. Today, the company sells an estimated 650 million bottles of ketchup alone annually.

4. How slow is that ketchup stream?

It's actually been clocked at 0.028 miles per hour. Apparently, a company website says, if it pours unaided faster than that, they won't sell it.

5. What's the best way to get ketchup out of the bottle?

See that 57 on the bottle's neck? Hit it. For real. Try it. It's like magic. You'll impress your friends.

6. So what's with the "57"?

Aside from being the perfect target the company says to slap, tap or bump to get that top speed flow, Heinz slapped that number on his packaging, not because he made 57 varieties. He just liked the look of it. The story goes that while riding a train in New York City in 1896, Heinz saw a sign advertising 21 styles of shoes he thought was clever. Even though his company was making more than 60 products at the time, Heinz thought 57 was a lucky number, so he started using the slogan "57 Varieties" in all his advertising.

7. So the Trump brand is in the White House. Did the Heinz brand get there?

While ketchup on the side is how the president has been reported to enjoy his steak, the Heinz name has had another brush with White House glory – twice. U.S. Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.), great-grandson of H.J. Heinz, was rumored to be a possible presidential candidate, but he died in a 1991 plane crash in suburban Philadelphia at age 52. His widow, Teresa, later married John Kerry, who ran for president in 2004. He lost to incumbent President George W. Bush.

Bonus trivia: Pickles and friends...

A bit of a rewind from the '80s: Heinz aired its now-classic ad featuring a bottle slowly pouring out ketchup from on top of a building. It was pouring so slowly, it gave the guy who set it up enough time to run downstairs and buy a hot dog from a vendor before reaching back and catching the condiment on his dog at the perfect moment. You can almost hear the "How ya doin'?" with the wink that follows. That guy? Future "Friends" actor Matt LeBlanc.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Zlati Meyer on Twitter: @ZlatiMeyer

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Memorial Day BBQ: 7 fun facts about ketchup while you wait for it