During the ZA, Things Ought to Taste Good, Too

Ketchup has been around for a couple hundred years of so, and has only really recently become the flavorless, red, runny goo we now see in stores.  It was almost any color, made of a mixture of fruits, vegetables, spices and seasonings.  S.D. and I are rediscovering what ketchup really was.

To make ketchup, a couple things are really really helpful, one being an electric turkey roaster, the other being a kitchen aid with the proper attachments (Food Grinder and Fruit & Vegetable Strainer Parts), and a food scale that goes up to 10 or 11#.  We're really getting into recipes by weight when it comes to produce, because it relieves the asspain of trying to figure out how many tomatoes in cups or some such.

We did leave the tomatoes, peppers and onions just on slow rot in the roaster for about 36 hours, and a bit here and there got a little done, but it just made the tomatoes more roasted tasting, which is really not bad at all.

25# tomatoes, cut in half, at least

2.5 - 3# onions

10 - 16 oz garden peppers (we plant a hot mix, but also some bells.)

-Roast in an electric roaster, mashing and stirring occasionally, for about 36 hours, with the lid ajar to allow steam to escape.

-Run tomato mixture through the juicer of the Kitchen Aid, sometimes running the pulp back through until the pulp is rather dry and you have all the good stuff

-Stick 2 heads of garlic into the oven on 350 - 375 degrees to start roasting

-Cook your tomato mixture down to about 1.5 gallons

Add (and adjust to taste)

1c red wine

1.5c cider vinegar

2T celery powder (or 3 stalks celery, really finely chopped)

1T canning salt

1.25c brown sugar

2T Sweet Hungarian Paprika

2tsp dry mustard

1tsp cloves

1/4tsp cinnamon

2 heads roasted garlic, all mashed up

cook all in a non-reactive pot to mix and mellow flavors.  Process in pressure canner 30 minutes at 10#.  Label and put on the canning shelves.

Now, S.D. and I like things a wee bit snappy, but we did document the ketchup as we did it.  We did taste after the addition of each ingredient into the pot and adjusted.  You might want to do the same thing.