I don’t know about you, but in this house, ketchup is where it’s at. Someone has to have it at every meal, and the quality at the store has gone downhill to the point that it’s just brightly colored sweet goo and not the tomatoey goodness that it once was. This is where your kitchen talents come in.
You can make your own ketchup and leave all that store ketchup behind. In fact, you can leave High Fructose Corn Syrup behind as well. Sure, this recipe contains sugar, but at least it’s cane sugar and not some weird hyper-sweet food additive that was created in a lab. It won’t taste nearly as sweet so you get the rich tomato flavor first and spices next, a hint of vinegar tartness and the sweet just blends them all together. It’s truly a different condiment from what most people are used to; and it raises the ketchup bar.
This recipe, canned, is from my book Modern Pressure Canning. Because it only makes 4 pints, you could enjoy it fresh and keep the jars in the fridge to eat. I like ketchup like this as my base for homemade barbeque sauce, and it works great in my Sloppy Joe’s recipe.
Homemade Ketchup
Equipment
- pressure cooker
- stockpot
- cloth juice bag
- pint canning jars and lids
Ingredients
- 13 lbs Tomatoes chopped
- 3 onions chopped
- 4 cups Cane sugar
- 2 cups white or apple cider vinegar
- 3 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard
- 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
Instructions
- In large stockpot, combine tomatoes and onons. Cook over medium heat, stirring often until onions are soft.
- Transfer mixture to a cloth juice bag and hang to drain for 2 hours or until thickened to your liking.
- Run the drained pulp through a food mill or use an immersion blender to smooth out any seeds and skins.
- Return the smooth pulp mixture to the pot over medium high heat. Stir in sugar, vinegar, salt, cloves, cinnamon, mustard and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Ladle hot ketchup into your jars, leaving 3/4 inch headspace if pressure canning, or fill to your preferred level if refrigerating.
- If canning, remove air bubbles, wipe rims and seal jars hand-tight. If refrigerating, wipe rims and add lids.
- If pressure canning, use USDA approved methods and pressure can for 15 minutes at 10 lbs pressure.
- Ketchup can be frozen or used within 2 weeks if kept in the refrigerator.
