Originally, ketchup was tomato free. Ketchup apparently began in China, as a sauce called ke-tsiap, made from fish brine mixed with herbs. (pic via flickr)
Yes indeed and then all of a sudden someone used mushrooms instead of fish and the first vegetable ketchups were born. Along came cucumber ketchup, grape, walnut and lots of others.
I’ve made tomato ketchup (and other kinds of ketchup too). The tomato ketchup was really tasty, thick and tangy so I thought I would try it out on my father-in-law, who was a ketchup devotee. He said “this ketchup is delicious but it isn’t Heinz.” I said I knew that, but did he like it? And he said again “it’s delicious. It isn’t Heinz.”
To this day I don’t know whether he was just comparing the two or whether he liked Heinz — or mine — better.
But in case you’re at a Farmer’s market and can buy a load of tomatoes, (maybe this will have to wait till the end of summer), and you want ketchup that’s tasty, thick and tangy, try my recipe:
Ketchup
8 pounds tomatoes, quartered
4 medium onions, finely chopped
2 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons celery salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cinnamonstick
1 tablespoon ustard seed
2 dried hot chili peppers, optional
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon whole cloves
Place the tomatoes and onions in a large, deep pot and bring to a boil over high heat. (Do not add water.) Lower the heat and simmer the vegetables for about 30 minutes or until they are soft. Strain the vegetables through a sieve or strainer extracting as much liquid as possible, and reserve the juices. Wash the pot and pour in the reserved juices. Stir in the vinegar, brown sugar, white sugar, celery salt, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. Place the cinnamon stick, mustard seed, hot peppers, black peppercorns and whole cloves in a small piece of cheesecloth (tie it closed with kitchen string) or in a small muslin cooking bag. Place the bag of spices in the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook the mixture for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, or until the mixture is thick. Discard the spice bag. Pour into jars prepared for bottling (follow manufacturer’s instructions) or spoon into plastic containers and keep, covered, in the refrigerator. Makes about 1-1/2 quarts