Condiment
substance or sauce added to food to enhance its flavor
A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to enhance the flavor, to complement the dish, or to impart a specific flavor. Such specific flavors generally add sweetness or pungency, or sharp or piquant flavors. The seasonings and spices common in many different cuisine arise from global introductions of foreign trade. Condiments include those added to cooking to impart flavor, such as barbecue sauce and soy sauce; those added before serving, such as mayonnaise in a sandwich; and those added tableside to taste, such as ketchup with fast food. Condiments can also provide other health benefits to diets that lack micronutrients.
Definition
The exact definition of a condiment varies. Some definitions encompass spices and herbs, including salt and pepper, using the term interchangeably with seasoning. Others restrict the definition to include only "prepared food compound[s], containing one or more spices", which are added to food after the cooking process, such as mustard, ketchup or mint sauce.
The Culinary Institute of America defines condiments as an "aromatic mixture" that "accompanies food", giving the examples of chutney, pickles and some sauces.
Types
Condiments added during cooking to add flavor include barbecue sauce, compound butter, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, iru, ogiri, Marmite and sour cream.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Condiment” is substance or sauce added to food to enhance its flavor. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Condiment, substance and sauce, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2596997. The Library of Congress control number is sh85030772. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Condiment” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.