Homemade Ketchup
The recipe below is from "The all New Square Foot Gardener Cookbook" that Jennifer made and shared on my Facebook page. I saw the final picture of Jennifer's work and her description of the flavor sold me.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds tomatoes, stem end cut out, quarted, seeds squeezed out (about 16-20 medium tomatoes)
- 1 or 2 pc. onions, cut into chunks
- 1 or 2 pc. sweet red bell peppers, cored, deseeded, quartered
- 1 1/2 cups white or cider vinegar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 t salt
- 2 t dry mustard
- 1/2 t whole allspice berries
- 1/2 t whole cloves
- Pinch of red pepper flakes or 1 inch segment of dried red pepper
- 1 pc. cinnamon stick, broken
Instructions
- Grind, process or puree the tomatoes, onions, and peppers in a blender or food processor, working in batches.
- Pour the mixture into a large pot. Add vinegar, sugar, salt and mustard. Put allspice, cloves, pepper and cinnamon into a clothbag or cheesecloth. Add to the pan.
- Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to slow and simmer, uncovered, for an hour or until the volume is reduced by half, stirring often.
- Cook until the consistency and flavor is where you want.
- Remove spice bag and ladle the ketchup into hot jars, leaving 1/2" headspace.
- Wipe rims of jars and add hot lids/rings. Process in water bath for 10 minutes.
- Makes 2-4 pints