I’ve been meaning to make home-made ketchup ever since it became obvious that I was going to have a bumper crop of tomatoes. That resolution became stronger when I realized I’d been the victim of a tomato bait and switch and my tomatoes, though prolific, were going to be very uninteresting eaten raw. For this adventure, I started with a British cookbook, Jellies, Jams & Chutneys by Thane Prince. First of all, I think you have to go with the British when you are talking about ketchup. They are absolutely mad for ketchup. They’ll put it on anything. That may be because so much British food is tasteless otherwise. But that doesn’t account for the British friend I have who puts ketchup on his pizza. In any case, the British are closely tied to ketchup which started as a Chinese concoction of pickled fish and spices called ke-tsiap. It migrated to the Malay peninsula, where the British got hold of it. At some point in the late 1800s, Americans added in the tomato base and the rest was history. Reviewing a couple of recipes, I liked the more exotic blend of spices offered in the British cookbook. Besides I had a Brit to please, so the British version was it.
First step was finding 6.5 pounds of tomatoes. Not a problem, even after I gave a huge bag of them to John and Louis.
I got almost all I needed off my plants. There are bushels more still on the vine ripening!
I added 2 stunt tomatoes from Sonoma Market with the rest of the ingredients: 1lb, 2oz chopped onions, 8 plump garlic cloves, 1 large red bell pepper and 7oz. celery.
Here’s where I should have questioned the recipe more closely. What kind of tomatoes? The book didn’t specify, but I assume you’d want something meaty and pulpy instead of watery. And the recipe just said to put the ingredients in a large pot and “cook for about 15 minutes until very soft.” Well, how soft? And it’s going to take a lot more than 15 minutes to get everything softened up enough for the next step which was passing the mixture through a fine sieve or food mill. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to chop everything up finely in the food processor before I put it in the pot. And it took a heck of a lot longer to get this boiled down to where it appeared to have any possibility of eventually being thick enough to be ketchup.
So passing it through the sieve gets out the seeds and the skins. But it takes a strong hand and you really have to press.
I’m assuming you’d want a lot of this pulp for ketchup making. My tomatoes didn’t have much. That left a very watery liquid, like tomato water.
At this point, the recipe asked me to “return the purée to the pot, add 8 oz. of sugar, 8 oz of cider vinegar and the spice mix. Then simmer for 20 minutes until the mixture thickens.” Here’s the problem, there was no way 20 minutes would see any thickening. And I hadn’t even started with anything that approached a purée. If I were rewriting this recipe, I’d specify a meaty tomato and I’d recommend really liquefying all the ingredients BEFORE putting them in the pot.
But then there is the spice mixture, and that’s really why I’d chosen the recipe. Some recipes didn’t call for anything more exotic than celery seed. Even worse, some relied on sugar, corn syrup and tons of salt. Take a look at what Thane Prince asks for:
15 cloves
20 allspice berries
1 tsp celery seed
4inches cinnamon stick
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black peppercorns
I ground it up to a powder with a mortar and pestle.
The minute I started grinding the spices, I knew this would be the deciding factor. The other was the vinegar I used.
If you are up Sebastapol way, you must stop at Andy’s Market for this most excellent Apple Cider Vinegar. Organic and made from local apples.
The last differential would be using muscovado sugar instead of white sugar. It was a substitution recommended by Prince and added a smokier, deeper flavor rather than a cloying sweetness.
So I can’t tell you how long I boiled this, but considerably longer than the recipe said.
Especially since I had to leave my ketchup making to help Andy chase a 2-1/2 foot rattler out of the garage! But pay no attention to that serpent. He has nothing to do with ketchup.
I just kept a light boil until it thickened up and looked a bit ketchupy. At this point, Andy was panicking and said I had to take it off the stove, even though I thought it could have stood some more thickening.
I ended up getting 2 lbs. of ketchup when the recipe said it should yield 5 lbs!
The taste test came on homemade burgers from local beef served with our own corn. MMM. It was smokey, spicy and delicious.
Then I had Andy taste test it against a local organic brand.
Andy declared mine the winner, saying it was more like a complexly spiced chutney than a ketchup. But then he’d have to say mine was better, wouldn’t he? I’ll have to make this again, get a higher yield and broaden my tasting panel to include more Brits.
News Flash: Andy says my ketchup is excellent in a classic British Bacon Sarnie.
Hey Lisa, that snake looks like the one (seven buttons, length, and girth) Louis was doing his polish version of an irish jig with. Although the force he used, after it wrapped around his leg, to kick it off would have sent it into Napa county. So did Andy send it to the happy hunting grounds or just the back forty. Also did Andy notice the tractor work I started below the barn? Looks to me the equipment behind the tractor is working well. We will be back on tuesday.
The snake was just nudged out of the barn and went under the blue wheelbarrow. So watch out. He also may have sneaked back into the workroom.
Seems like an interesting recipe. Do YOU like it and is it worth all the work?
I love it and I’m not usually a fan of ketchup. It’s sort of a smokey, spicy, vinegary barbecue like sauce rather than a sugary, salty ketchup.
Oh, Lisa, you will have fun with this recipe. Finding the perfect tomato for its purposes, streamlining the technique. Definitely more chutney than ketchup. Looking forward to the science experiments.
Traitor to my Southern genes, I generally do not like fried green tomatoes. In February we were served FGT at the Kooky Kanuck in Memphis with two wonderful relishy sauces. I don’t think they sell them separately but should. Anything that can make me enjoy FGT is special.
If you can find one… look for a Foley Food Mill. Hand crank thing that makes that part MUCH easier!
I have a food mill, but either it’s a cheap one or I don’t know how to use it. It’s always spilled all the food I’m trying to strain all over the place.
Here’s one Brit who would not mind being a taste tester Lisa. Do you think it would travel up to Oregon Ok?
I got a surprisingly small yield, otherwise I’d send one. But I’m planning to make it again, so I’ll reserve a jar. I’m sure FedEx can handle it if it’s packed carefully.
Sounds good.. Want any smoked salmon? We use the barter system quite a lot here on the Wild Rivers Coast..
Wow! There’s an offer I can’t pass up. Let me wait until my eccentric neighbor Aldo’s beefsteak tomatoes are at peak ripeness and I’ll go into a frenzy of ketchup making.
Hi Lisa,
As a fellow Brit I concur with Lord Andrew that a Bacon Sarnie is not complete without a fine Tomato Ketchup or Catsup as they called it in my part of London. On the other hand, a hot Banger Roll requires a fine Brown Sauce such as HP.. My mouth is watering with excitement..about Bacon Sarnies!
do you suppose you could do this without the whole canning process – we gave up on that years ago – but if we have an extra large crop of maters next year it is worth a shot
Yes, you don’t have to can. But it only takes 10 minutes in a hot water bath (no need to use the pressure canner for such an acidic product) and then it’s shelf stable. Without canning, you just have to refrigerate it and it doesn’t last that long.
over 20 years ago, I first tasted homemade ketchup, and have loved it ever since. Make it myself? well, maybe three times in those 20 years.
But maybe I’ll take a shot at it this autumn. There are wonderful tomatoes in the farmers market, and if you go at the end of the market day, they mark them down.