This is an old recipe. It is full flavored and really, really good on burgers, fries, meat loaf, or anything else you want.
To peel the tomatoes, put them in boiling water for a minute, then remove and plunge them into ice water. The skins should come off easily. Give each one a bit of a squeeze to get some of the juice out. Chop them coarsely. Combine with the other vegetables and cook over medium low until all are soft. Put through a food mill or puree in a food processor. Return to the pan and simmer until reduced by 1/2, about 30 minutes, depending on how juicy the tomatoes are.
Add the remaining ingredients. Cook slowly until very thick, stirring often. Put in sterilized jars allowing 1/2 inch head space and process for 15 minutes.
Servings: 3 - 4 pints
Prep Time: 15 to 20 Minutes
Cooking Time: 1 1/2 Hours
By Free2B from North Royalton, OH
Check out these recipes.
I am trying to get files together, I thought I would share what I have collected over many, many moons!
Cut the tomatoes into quarters removing stem ends. Remove seeds from the peppers and cut them into strips. Peel onions and cut in eighths. Fill blender about 3/4 full with vegetables.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I made the following recipe for ketchup and it came out too thin/watery. What can I add to thicken it? The only thing I did different was that I used 1 TB of tomato sauce instead of 2 heaped TB of tomato puree.
Maryeileen from Brooklyn OH
Don't add any thing. Simmer it until you get the thickness that you want.
Add a dab of tomato paste; that should thicken it a little.
Just cook it longer.
I guess I should have said that the recipe did not say to cook it; just to whizz it all in a blender. So, I will try to cook it and see what happens.
Hi I have been making and canning my own ketchup for years. Regardless of whether you can it for later use or want to use it right away you have to use what the ingredients call for. Tomato paste is a thickener. Try adding some paste and cook it on low stirring until it thickens. Sauce is very different from paste.
I would say simmer it as well without adding anything. I do my tomatoes from the garden and at each thickness, take off and process what I want from tomato juice to sauce to paste.
Try cooking on low in the crock pot. Saves a lot of stirring. Just check occasionally until it is as thick as you want it to be.
The commercial catsup companies came out with an all-natural sugar-free product some years ago that did not sell well. They discovered that the sugar gave a slightly scorched and carmelized flavor that people had to have. They simmer catsup for long times to do a reduction. Crockpots for home batches work well.
I would add that you should cook it with the lid off. The lid would cause steam and excess liquid. Cook on low. Crockpot is great.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. Today I cooked it on low for awhile, and added a little bit of bottled ketchup and just a touch of Karo syrup and it came out great. I've got french fries in the oven now so I can use some!
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
My mother used to make her own ketchup. She only believed in using French's spices and I seem to think it was a ketchup recipe by French's.
