Homemade Ketchup

I know what you're thinking.  I've gone off the deep end right?  I mean homemade ketchup?  Yup.  And it's sooooo yummy!  There are two ways to do this.  I'm going to walk you through both because if you are like me and have never made tomato sauce, you probably need the extra instructions.  You can cut the cooking time in half by using already made tomato sauce either that you canned yourself, or bought from the store.  Once you've tried homemade ketchup, I dare you to go back to your beloved Hunts.

This recipe is not my own.  I received a canning book for my birthday from my boys called Canning For A New Generation by Liana Krissoff.  This is her recipe and it's very tasty.  You can alter it to your own liking.  The nice thing about homemade products is the ability to add a little bit of this or a little bit of that!  Here is the basic recipe with pictures.

Homemade Ketchup

Ingredients: 

1 tbsp olive oil

8 oz chopped onion (about 1 large onion)

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

7 lbs roma tomatoes (Roma are best, but any will do), chopped*

1/2 cup cider vinegar (5% acidity), or more to taste

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cayenne

*If going the easier route, use 4 cans of organic tomato sauce instead.  About 8 cups.

1.  First you will start with 7 lbs of Roma tomatoes.  The beauty of this recipe is that you don't have to blanch and peel them first.  Yay!  Just chop them up and put them in a bowl.  Set aside.

2.  In a large pot, add the oil and chopped onion and garlic.  Saute for a few minutes until onion is tender and translucent.  Then add all of the rest of the ingredients, including the tomatoes (or tomato sauce).  If using tomato sauce, skip steps 3 and 4.

3.  Cook until the tomatoes are nice and tender - about 30 - 45 minutes.

4.  Now comes the messy part.  The easiest thing to do is pass the mixture through a Squeezo strainer or food mill fitted with the disk with the smallest holes to remove the seeds and skin.  I unfortunately do not have either.  So, you can puree the mixture and pass through a small sieve instead.  I used my Ninja and because my sieve had holes that were too large, I ended up using my flour sifter!  Hey, when you are in the middle of a cooking project you learn to improvise!

5.  Let your sauce cook down until it thickens to your liking.  This could take several hours.

6.  Taste and add extra vinegar or sugar if needed.  Now you are ready to can!  Use these BASIC CANNING instructions to can your ketchup.  It will make 6-8 half pint jars or 3 or 4 pints depending on how thick you let your sauce get.  Process your jars for 20 minutes plus any time for altitude (1 minute per 1000 ft above sea level.)  Let sit undisturbed for 12 hours.

Enjoy with some homemade french fries!