My son, James, loves tomato ketchup especially with his chips. He could only eat certain food if there is a tomato ketchup. LO
Did you know?
Ketchup has Chinese origin. Apparently around 1690, the Chinese made a pickled fish concoction with liberal addition of some spices. This they called koe-chiap which mean brine of pickled fish.
This koe-chiap found its way into Malaysia and Singapore which they called kechap. As it happens, this kechap took the fancy of British explorers and introduced kechap to Europe. Over time the word evolved to what we now know as ketchup.
Ketchup is not that hard to make. During the end of summer, even small gardeners, like me, have a surplus of tomatoes which we really not sure what to do with.
Well worry no more. Just ensure you have clean jars from your marmalade or jams or even the empty plastic bottles from your shop bought tomato sauce. Just them in the dishwasher and they are as good as new.
Tomatoes, Photo by PH Morton for Globalgranary.org
To make the Tomato Ketchup
Ingredients
- 3kg tomatoes – roughly chopped
- 500g onions – roughly chopped
- 200g sugar
- 1 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup salt
- 2 tbsp whole cloves
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp juniper berries, this is of course can be replaced by 1
- tbsp all spice
How to make
1. Easy – Put everything into a saucepan.
2. Bring to the boil and then lower down the heat to a minimum and simmer for 3-4 hours (this will reduce and thicken the mixture)
3. Strain to a colander or sieve direct to the prepared bottles and jars.
Keep refrigerated and it will last for weeks.
Enjoy