I love ketchup, in our household we are big fans, and making our own homemade version from fresh ripe tomatoes from the garden is nice!
The colour is not blood red like the store bought version, but it has mellow red-orange tone. Don’t let the look of it cheat you though, if you have very flavourful red ripe tomatoes to begin with, this is gonna taste amazing ! If you do cook with the cheaper watery tomatoes the flavour wont be as enhanced, so opt for tomatoes that smell very good, this will get the best result !
Makes about 700 ml (23 oz)
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg tomatoes (3.3 lbs)
- 2.5 dl yellow onions (1 cup)
- 1 apple (mealy is ok)
- 6 tablespoons vinegar
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon salt + to taste when finished
- ½ teaspoon pepper
What you will need
- Cutting board and knife
- 1 2L pot or bigger (0.5 gallon or bigger)
- 1 measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- 1 stick blender
- Sterilzed glass jars as needed
Instructions
Sterilizing jars and timing
- The jar should be clean, sterilized and hot when the ketchup is finished, so prepare it while the ketchup is cooking.
- Wash your glass jar in hot soap.
- Boil the rubber closures (if any) for a few minutes separately.
- Put the glass jar (without the rubber if any) in the oven on 140°c (280°F) and bake until dry.
- Take out just before the ketchup is ready, so the container is hot and the ketchup is hot, this will prevent the glass from breaking when pouring the hot ketchup into it.
- Sterilizing is important to keep your ketchup from spoiling. If sterilized well the ketchup can keep good unopened for months. After opening if should be stored in the fridge.
Ketchup
- Roughly chop all the tomatoes, cut out the the hard part where the stem was. Put in the pot.
- Peel and chop the onions and the garlic cloves, put in the pot with the vinegar, sugar, olive oil, mustard seeds, salt and pepper. Roughly chop the apple, chop off the core then add to the pot.
Turn the heat on high and bring to a simmer. Stir on occasion. Don’t put a lid on. When simmering turn the heat to medium / low, so it’s on a constant simmer for about 2 hours, stir occasionally. Don’t put the lid on.
When the sauce is about 1/3 of its original size it’s done. Turn the heat off and blend it smooth with a stick blender.
Transfer the ketchup to the hot and sterilzed jar. leaving about 2-3 cm / an inch free space on top. Tap gently to remove potential trapped airbubbles. Avoid spilling on the outside rim, wipe off any if so, this will prevent the ketchup from spoiling. Cover with the lid, don´t seal shut, let cool for about 5 minutes, then seal shut while still hot.
- If sterilized well it can keep good for months unopened. After opening store in the fridge for about 2-3 weeks.
When the ketchup has cooled down completely you will get the real taste of the ketchup, here you can add salt and pepper as needed. When warm it’s hard to judge exactly how much you need to put in, as it depsends how much water evaporates when you cook it down. When I tasted it completely cooled down, it tasted too bland, but when adding about 1 teaspoon of salt all the flavours were enhanced and it tasted great like a real ketchup ! You be the judge on how much more salt you need to add to get the ketchup flavour you like.
Enjoy !
