I’ve been wanting to make my own ketchup for years, but I kept putting it off because A) I never had enough paste tomatoes or B) I never had the time to cook down the sauce. This year I had both, so I used the tomato ketchup recipe from Ball’s Complete Book of Home Preserving. If you’ve never canned tomato ketchup or sauce, let me tell you up front that it’s going to take a lot more time to reduce the sauce than what the recipe says. The recipe says to cook until almost the consistency of commercial ketchup or about 45 minutes. This time wasn’t even close to what it took. After 45 minutes, the sauce was barely a thin sauce, thinner than store-bought tomato sauce. I cooked it on the stove for 5 hours, put it in a roaster overnight at 150 degrees, and then it went back on the stove in the morning for another 3 hours before it was the consistency I wanted. It was still thinner than store-bought ketchup, but it worked for me. Moral of the story is – make sure you have a full day (or even two) to cook down the sauce, or I think you won’t be happy with the end result.

I followed the recipe exactly for the spices, and overall, the flavor was good, but next time (if there is a next time!), I’m going to cut back on the celery seed to 2 tablespoons. That’s all I could smell when the sauce was cooking, and while I could taste the other spices, my tastebuds were focused on the celery.

Tomato Ketchup

3 tablespoons celery seeds

4 teaspoons whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks (each 4 inches), broken into pieces

1-1/2 teaspoons whole allspice

3 cups cider vinegar

24 pounds tomatoes, cored and quartered

3 cups chopped onions

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1-1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup pickling or canning salt

Tie celery seed, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and allspice in a square of cheesecloth, creating a spice bag.

In a stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar and spice bag. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat and let stand for 25 minutes. Discard the spice bag.

Meanwhile, in a large stainless steel saucepan, combine tomatoes, onion, and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and boil gently for 20 minutes. Add infused vinegar and boil gently until vegetables are soft and mixture begins to thicken, about 30 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer mixture to a sieve placed over a glass or stainless steel bowl and press with the back of a spoon to extract all the liquid. (You can also use a food mill to do this.) Discard solids.

Return liquid to saucepan. Add sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until the volume is reduced by half, and the mixture is almost the consistency of commercial ketchup, about 45 minutes (see my comments above).

Meanwhile, prepare canner, jars, and lids.

Ladle hot ketchup into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed by adding hot ketchup. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars. Cool and store.

Yield: About 7 pints

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