Tomato Oveload? Make Catsup!
 

I had several gallons of fresh tomatoes of all types and a pantry full of just canned tomato sauce, so what to do? I made catsup! It's easy, but it does take some time. I adapted my version from an old recipe in the cookbook, <I>Stocking Up, </I>from the Rodale Press. (I don't believe that this '70s cookbook is still in print.) There's a myriad of ways to make catsup, or "ketchup," if you prefer. It all depends on taste, so I'm just going to give you the basic ingredients that I used and you can go from there.

Tomato puree
mixed peppers
chopped onions
1 celery stalk
white wine vinegar
brown sugar
cinnamon
cloves
garlic
salt

Cook the onions, celery and peppers in a little water until soft, add to the tomato puree. Add the rest of the ingredients to taste. Continue cooking on low until the mixture is about 1/2, to 1/3 the volume. Blend in small batches and return to the stove to cook down until nice and thick. Can in small jars.

I found this to be a 2 day process, but easy to do.

~ C

Sounds very tasty. My grandmother use to make ketchup for all the family every year from her garden tomatoes. I remember going to a friends house and having Heinz ketchup. It tasted awful. I rarely ate ketchup from a store since. I watched her mix it up sometimes. I remember she put butter and honey in it but no other sugar. I may have her recipe written down somewhere I haven't thought about it in years.

This is pretty close to the ingredients I use. Except I never have an abundance of tomatoes here in Alaska, but I do have plenty of high bush cranberries. Yum!!!

Do you use a crock pot to cook it down?

When you say "can in small jars" do you use some sort of canning process or can you just put it in the jars & the heat from the sauce seals the lids? How long can you keep it stored before going bad? Sound like this would make some excellent Christmas gifts. Who wouldn't love a jar of homemade Catsup?!!

I understand about tomato overload. My vines did very well this year and I can give only so many away to others until they start to run away from me when they see me coming with basket in hand. Anyway I knew I had plenty of salsa and then I found out I was low on Spaghetti sauce so made up another 12 qts to make it 24 in my store room. Then decided to try my hand at tomato soup. My sister had made some and said it was quite tasty so thought.....okay I'll make up some. I added a sweet potato, carrots, celery, onions and red peppers to it, cooked it down and then pureed it. Made up 50 pts and 1 qt within 2 batches. Think I have enough to last me for a year or two. Still have what seems like a ton of tomatoes on my counter , mostly green as I picked them due to lower temps coming our way. Will prepare them for the freezer until I need them for something else. Have pulled the vines but didn't get them chopped up to bag before the cold rain hit us yesterday around 3PM. Still raining this morning and we're expecting freezing temps sometime tomorrow. Will have to check out the ketchup recipe but as I don't use much ketchup I doubt I'll make any but love checking out new recipes just the same. Never thought about ketchup.

I made enough catsup to last me several years last summer with my extra tomatoes. I only did a small amount of sauce and salsa this year (slow canning season). I love your recipe, a bit different than what I use. I can most of my fruits and veggies and many of my meats and chicken. I also dehydrate many of my own spices and fruits. I do all this while quilting in between. Keeps my days filled. Today some time I will be outdoors cleaning up the garden and cutting back grape vines. I just hope before the weekend is over I can clean up the rest of the flower bed. All this while making an important baby quilt. Keeps me very busy in my retirement. -:)

I don't, but I don't see why you couldn't.

~ C

I put the lids on mine then put them in a boiling water bath for about 15 minutes...just to make sure that they were heated through and sealed properly.

~ C

Yum!!! Cranberry catsup sounds good too! I think I might have a recipe for that...I'll check.

~ C