sprinklefingers

try as i might to persuade him otherwise, my kid still loves ketchup. thankfully he only eats it on the foodstuffs that are obvious partners for ketchup, but still. it’s tough for a ketchup-shunning mother to accept her son’s ketchup-loving ways.

so, naturally, i set about making my own version of ketchup that he’d eat and i’d feel even better about serving him.

and, with all the tomatoes on the horizon (summer!) this ketchup is an excellent way to use up some of the bounty of your garden (or frequent trips to the farmer’s market.)

homemade tomato ketchup - makes 3 cups

you need:

• 1 shallot, chopped fine
• chunk of yellow onion equal in size to the shallot, chopped fine
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped fine
• 2 t baking spice - or a combination of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg - any spice you’d bake with (although if you choose cloves, go easy! they are strong in flavor and will completely take over the flavor profile of your ketchup.)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 t black peppercorns
• 2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2/3 cup golden brown sugar (light brown)
• 2-28 oz. cans whole tomatoes in juice (preferably peeled)*

make ketchup:

1. add some neutral oil to a soup pot set over medium heat. when the oil is ready, lower the heat and add the shallot & onion and saute for 8-10 minutes. you do not want them to turn golden, you just want them to soften & cook. 
2. add the red pepper to the shallot & onion and continue to cook.
3. once the pepper has softened, add your baking spices and let cook for 3 minutes while stirring.
4. wrap the bay leaves & peppercorns up in a bit of cheesecloth, tie with kitchen twine and put in pot.
5. add the vinegar & the brown sugar and stir to combine.
6. add both cans of tomatoes, stir to combine with everything else in the pot.
7. using you immersion blender, blend everything together completely. make sure to break down all of the tomatoes, bits of onion, etc. once you think you’ve blended enough, blend a bit more. the more you blend, the smoother the consistency.
8. once everything in the pot has been blended together, set the heat so that the mixture will come to a boil.
9. once you’ve reached a boil, lower heat so that the ketchup will simmer. allow it to simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1.5 hours.

ketchup will keep for a month or so in the fridge. alternatively you can freeze it in freezer-safe jars OR go the extra step of canning it. but, this yields an amount not really worth hauling out the canner for - that’s why i suggest keeping it in the fridge and coming up with all sorts of ideas for using it!



note: if you have a kid who’s used to heinz ketchup, this homemade ketchup might be a tough sell. if you plan to switch over exclusively to homemade ketchup, you may want to start out by mixing equal parts of your old ketchup with the homemade stuff - then gradually reducing the amount of old ketchup until your kid is used to it. or, do what i did and just tell your kid that all the ketchup in the whole world changed overnight, and this homemade ketchup is what it changed to. or some desperate story like that when all you really want him to do is eat his flippin’ dinner.

*i came up with this recipe when tomatoes were not in season, so i used canned tomatoes. when summer hits and tomatoes are ripe, definitely use fresh tomatoes - approximately 4 lbs - in this recipe. to remove the skins: boil a pot of water. using a sharp knife, score an X into the underside of each tomato. drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for under a minute. fish out, allow to cool enough so you can touch it and then peel - starting with the X you made. if the peel is stubborn, plop the tomato back into the water for a few seconds.