By CCH Dietitian Mona Van Wart – I loved making this tomato ketchup. I thought it was really fun to do and the end product was fantastic . As I was making the ketchup,it took me back to my childhood when I was a little girl helping my Mom process vegetables from our gardens.
I do not use ketchup as a condiment, but I do have a couple of favorite recipes of my mother’s that uses ketchup as the main ingredient for the sauce. I decided instead of freezing the ketchup as I originally had planned I would make those recipes and then portion and freeze the end products for my lunches.
A pdf version of the recipe can be found on the Health Eating page or by clicking here.
Ingredients
6 pounds tomatoes (about 12 large tomatoes)
½ cup brown sugar
¾ cup onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
½ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup cider vinegar
½ cup balsamic vinegar (I chose the kind that had 0 mgs. Sodium)
Cayenne pepper (optional)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Wash tomatoes.
- Halve the tomatoes, drizzle some olive oil over them, and place on 1-2 baking pans.
- Roast for 20 minutes or until they are soft and wrinkled looking, but not burnt.
- Let the tomatoes cool, and then transfer them to a blender or food processor and puree until they are smooth. Process in small batches.
- In a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, warm the sugar, keeping it moving with a spoon, for about a minute.
- Add the onion, garlic and the pureed roasted tomatoes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the three kinds of vinegar and continue to cook for another 30 minutes or until reduced by two-thirds. The ketchup should be thick.
- Remove from heat and season to taste with the cayenne pepper, if desired.
- Strain the ketchup through a mesh strainer into a glass or stainless steel bowl.
- To cool the ketchup, fill a large stockpot about halfway with a mixture of half ice, half water, and submerge the container in the ice bath to chill. The ice-water level should come most of the way up the outside of the container, but don’t let any water into the ketchup.
- Stir the ketchup occasionally until the temperature reaches 70°F on a thermometer.
- Then remove the container from the ice bath, cover and transfer to the refrigerator where it will keep for 3-5 days.
- Ketchup can be frozen in small freezer bags or containers, or I read that it can be put in ice cube trays and then put them in a freezer container.
Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)
1 serving = 1 Tbsp Calories: 8 Fat: 0 g Carbs: 2 g Protein: <1 g Sodium: <1 g
(Comparison – Store bought ketchup)
1 serving = 1 Tbsp Calories: 19 Fat: 0 g Carbs: 4.5 g Protein: <1 g Sodium: 154 mgs
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