Homemade Tomato Ketchup
4 stars - 3 reviews
ready in: 2-5 hrs
serves/makes: 6 pints
BROWSE MOREketchup
condiments
sauces and condiments
flavored oil
RECIPE TOOLS:
print
email
save
add photo
add reviewRecipe Newsletter
INGREDIENTS:
24 pounds ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups onions chopped very fine or pureed in a food processor
1 head garlic (pressed)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 cups cider vinegar (white will do in a pinch)
4 teaspoons whole cloves
3 sticks cinnamon broken up
OR
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
3 tablespoons celery seed
1 tablespoon whole peppers
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup salt
DIRECTIONS:
Peel and quarter the tomatoes OR (better) pass them through a tomato food-mill. In a large non-reactive kettle (remember the vinegar coming later) start frying the onions in the olive oil. After a minute or 2 add the tomatoes and cayenne pepper. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
While the tomatoes are simmering - put the spices in a bag (I use a tea-strainer). In another non-reactive pot boil the vinegar with the spices in it. Once it has boiled for a minute you can turn off the heat. When the tomatoes are ready remove the spices and add the vinegar to the tomato mixture.
Bring back to a boil and simmer for another 30 minutes. (It will start to make wonderfully messy bubbles at this point). Let it cool for a bit (or be REALLY careful) and puree the mixture thoroughly in a food processor or blender.
Pour the mixture into a wide oven-proof (and still non-reactive) pan or pot and put it in the oven at 300 degrees F (the wider the better). Let it reduce in the oven by about 50% - check every 20-30 minutes. This may take up to 2 hours, but is considerably easier I find then the alternative of stirring it on the stove top for 30 minutes. When it is done it should mound up on a spoon without separating. You will probably need to remove a thin skin the will have formed on the top of the ketchup. (Which you can throw between two pieces of bread at eat - yum yum)
This can be canned in pint jars with processing in a boiling water bath 15 minutes.
Recipe Source: Adapted from Putting Food By by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg, and Beatrice Vaughan.
COOK'S NOTES:
This ketchup looks and feels just like Heinz but taste as if someone had turned the volume up to about 11.
It takes several hours to make this - but you can do other things at the same time and the result is great tasting ketchup for the year!.
I use 75% ROMA or other Italian sauce tomatoes and 25% big beefsteak or pink - something with solid flesh
NUTRITION:
REVIEWS:
Guest: 1 poormomma 2010-08-26
End result was terrific, but it took 1t least 10-11 hours to cook down. Also, we found we had to add more sugar and change the spice amounts a bit to our taste. The recipe itself is a bit vague in a few places, so I used my best judgment. Overall, my hubby EATS it, so it is a success!
Guest: fishygirl 2009-08-03
Directions should have said when to add garlic and to what. Spices steeped in vinegar are VERY SPICY! More like a cocktail sauce so I used it for shrimp.
Guest: Tim 2009-10-17
Hi There ! I have a feeling that "24 pounds of tomatoes" should read "24 toomatoes" ? You'd have to boil things down considerably to get 24 pounds into 6 pints. I really do think it would make life much easier if people used grammes and litres : "cups" and "spoonfuls" make very vague quantities - or maybe people feel that's part of the charm of home cooking ?
CDKitchen Note: Teaspoons, tablespoons and cups are standardized American measurements, not vague amounts.
