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 When life gives you lemons, make homemade Ketchup from scratch. This is a great way to use your extra tomtoes, control the amount of sugars you give your kids, and have fun with them in the process. Ketchup is still the number selling extra for summer foods.
Make homemade Ketchup from scratch
This was orginally published back in early June, but has had techincal difficulties. Back then our country was in the throws of tomato scare. Now its cleared up and the summer is almost over. Good time still to make a couple of bottle worth.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade is the normal refrain. However, during this time of the tomato scare, there is two things happening, they are removing tomatoes all over the place, and the price of "safe" tomatoes is going to go sky high. The other thing is that ALL the rest of the tomato crop is going to be "dumped". As I was reading this the other day, I thought to myself, "Self, with the economy in the dumper and the tomato crop being wasted, I bet they are willing to sell real cheaply. Make canned tomato products while you can as cheaply as you can. Can you say that ten times fast?
 Going to the other side of town (49 miles) to the real State Farmers market finds the price of the roma and round regular tomatoes at rock bottom. The guy I talked to reached over and grabbed a tomato and ate it in front of me. There have been no reported cases of problems in Georgia, and these were grown down by Albany. Buy a couple of bushels, and make tomato products until you cannot anymore. First on the list is homemade ketchup. Do not worry this will be perfectly safe, as we are going to cook it well. The correct way to kill off the little buggies, which we will do, is to boil the tomatoes for 20+ minutes. Then simmer for 12+ hours. I think it will be safe enough then. However, I will let you decide, as I am not a State Approved Food and Health Safety Inspector.
Start your process early in the morning, so you will be done late tonight, or late in the evening and finish in the morning. I choose early morning for this work before it gets hot. It IS very time consuming. However, its a great thing to do with the kids.
Step 1 - Gather your tomatoes
Tomatoes red round, like beefsteak - about 25 lbs Yes, you need a big basketful - you remove the skins, seeds and a lot of the water, and then cook it down, so it takes a lot to start - UNLESS you are using a paste-type tomato (like Roma) that has little water - you can get by with 20 lbs.
Homemade ketchup is yours make the flavoring the way you want. See below for what to gather, if you decide to use that.
Step 2 - Removing the tomato skins
Here is a trick you may not know: Cut a small X in the butt-end of the tomato (not were the stem was) Put the tomatoes, a few at a time in a large pot of boiling water for no more than 1 minute (30 - 45 seconds is usually enough)
Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water with your slotted spoon, and Plunge them into a waiting bowl of ice water. (Yes, you will have to keep refilling the ice every occasionally. The kids love doing this to help.)
This makes the skins slide right off of the tomatoes! If you leave the skins in, they become tough and chewy in the sauce, not very pleasant. I normally leave skins for many of my canned tomato products, but for smooth creamy ketchup it's has to be skinless.
Step 3 - Prepare the Tomatoes for cooking
Removing seeds and water. After you have peeled the skins off the tomatoes, cut the tomatoes in half. Now we need to remove the seeds and excess water.
Squeeze of the seeds and water. Wash your hands again, then Squeeze each tomato and use your finger or a spoon to scoop and shake out most of the seeds. You don't need to get to picky about it; removing most will do fine.
Drain the tomatoes. Toss the mashed-up tomatoes into a drainer set in a large bowl, while you work on the rest. This helps more of the water to drain off. You can save the liquid: pass it through a sieve or screen, and you have fresh tomato juice!
Step 4 - Seasonings
Some of the seasonings will straight into the pot with the tomatoes, the rest will go into a spice bag you make from a piece of cheesecloth. Put the tomatoes in a large pot to start simmering.
Into the pot of simmering tomatoes, put:
- 1 cup diced onions
- 1 teaspoon salt (optional - I don't put any in!)
- 1 cloves of minced garlic, (or more)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper- less if you want to keep the heat down
- 1 cup sugar (white or brown) I like using brown always, though white is cheaper
Other things to add if you like:
- 1/2 teaspoon of dry mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- tablespoon of ground allspice
- teaspoon of ground cloves
- teaspoon of cayenne pepper- less if you want to keep the heat down
Make a celery seed seasoning bag. If you already know how, great, or have a couple of store bought is ok as well. On a piece of cheesecloth (about 6-8 inches square) put 3 tablespoons celery seed. Tie the corners of the cloth together to make a little bag with a piece of cotton string. Put the bag into a small saucepot with 3 1/2 cups of 5% apple cider vinegar. Let it simmer for 30 minutes, while the tomatoes cook. Some will evaporate.
Step 5 - Cooking the Tomatoes
Bring the tomatoes to a gentle simmer. Cook the tomatoes for about 20 - 30 minutes over medium heat to make them mushy enough to go through your food mill or sieve. NOW we are safe from the little buggies!
Removing the seeds and skins. Run the cook tomato mixture through the food mill or sieve. Discard the seeds and skins that remain in the sieve.
Step 6 - Simmer the Ketchup Sauce
Add the seasoned vinegar and cook down to thicken the mix. Now it is time to add the 3 cups of celery seasoned vinegar from step (minus the cheesecloth bag, which you may now discard), and cook down the mixture to thicken it. You can do it on the stove over low heat, stirring frequently.
OR
Put it into a crock-pot and let it cook down by itself. This method is much easier! I find it takes about 12 hours, but each crock-pot may vary. You want it to get as it thick as however thick you like your ketchup to be, remembering that it will also thicken a little bit after you cool it. Leave the lid off, and cover with a splatter screen. This way the steam can escape.
Step 7 - Can your Ketchup Sauce
Get the jars and lids sterilizing. The dishwasher is fine for the jars. I get that going about 30 minutes before I figure the ketchup has cooked down enough. Yes, that's a bit vague, but thats the way cooking is.
Be sure to let it go through the rinse cycle to get rid of any soap! It's also a good time to start heating up the water in the canner and the small pan of water to boil the lids.
Lids: Put the lids into a pan of boiling water for at least several minutes.
Note: everything gets sterilized in the water bath (step 12), so this just helps to ensure there is no spoilage later!)
Fill the jars with the ketchup and put the lid and rings on. Fill them to within 1/4 inch of the top, seat the lid and hand-tighten the ring around them.
Be sure the contact surfaces (top of the jar and underside of the ring) are clean to get a good seal!
Process (boil) the jars in the canner. Put them in the canner and keep them covered with at least 1 inch of water. Keep the water boiling. Process the jars in a boiling-water bath for 35 minutes for pints and 40 minutes for quarts. Remember to adjust the time if you are at a different altitude other than sea level!
Remember to follow the basic rules of canning, in my article Canning Basics.
Personal Notes:
I actually use a little extra to mine, such as a couple of freshly pan heated and then grind Cardamom pods, 3 cloves of garlic, 2 teaspoons of paprika, and couple a minced homemade sun-dried tomatoes. I find this to be a very rich flavor. After you open the jar, you may want to transfer it to a real glass Heinz Ketchup bottle for storing in the refrigerator.
About Michael
Michael loves gardening, cooking, canning and playing with the kids. Teaching Max, Brandon and Jonathon about Cooking from Scratch, and Living with the Land, and Off the Grid.
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I would love to hear about your bottleing tips if you have them for bottles, instead of jars.
Photo of simmering crockpot & tomato guts, copyright 2008, Michael Gokey
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