Fresh Tomato Ketchup

Submitted by Chef Kate

"A quite wonderful combination of spice makes this ketchup, a Joanne Weir recipe, worth the effort."

 

• Ready In: 3hrs
• Ingredients: 18
• Yields: 4 cups

ingredients

• 5 lbs tomatoes, ripe, quartered
• 3 medium red onions, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon allspice berry
• 2 teaspoons whole cloves
• 2 teaspoons celery seeds
• 1 slice fresh ginger
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 1⁄2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground mace
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 pinch cayenne

directions

1. Place the tomatoes, onions, bell pepper and garlic in a large pot.
2. Bring to boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are very soft, about 30 minutes.
3. Pass through the finest blade of a food mill to make a semi-smooth puree. Alternatively, puree in the blender until smooth and pass through a fine strainer. Place the puree back in the cleaned soup pot.
4. Place the peppercorns, mustard seeds, allspice berries, cloves, celery seeds, ginger, cinnamon stick and bay leaves on a piece of cheesecloth and tie it up to form a bag.
5. Add to the tomatoes, along with the brown sugar, paprika, mace, cider vinegar, salt and cayenne.
6. Simmer slowly, stirring frequently, until the ketchup is very thick, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove the cheesecloth bag and discard.
7. Ketchup can be cooled and stored in a sealed plastic container in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
8. Alternatively, you can put ketchup in sterilized jars. To do so, first wash the jars in hot, soapy water. Rinse well. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 4 pint jars and lids and boil 1 minute. Remove with tongs and drain.
9. While the ketchup is still hot, pour it into the sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headroom. Seal and place in boiling water bath for 12 minutes. Remove and cool.

Reviews

[joop]

Made this today with an immersion blender and I did sieve out the stuff that didn't blend well, losing about a cup of pulp, etc. The instructions stated that to can it, plan on sterilizing 4 pint jars, so I did. I was pretty sad, then, when after cooking down most of the day I barely cleared a single pint. It's very flavorful but there is nowhere near 4 pints of finished product with this recipe (I had two friends coming over who love fresh ketchup and I had hoped to send each home with their own jar but there was barely enough for our family). Next time I will definitely double this recipe. It's very, very tasty but we'll go through this batch in a week - if you like ketchup, def. consider doubling the recipe.

 

[Sam Mooney]

This is delicious ketchup. We've made three batches of ketchup this year, each from a different recipe, and this is far and away the best. We don't mind if the ketchup is a bit chunky so we don't bother with the food mill. We'll be making this again.