Homemade Tomato Ketchup w/Fresh Tomatoes – Hello Summer!

“Three tomatoes were walking down the street. Papa tomato, Mama tomato and Baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind. And Papa tomato gets really angry, goes back and squishes him and says, ‘Ketchup.’”- Uma Thurman, from the movie Pulp Fiction.

This is a hilarious joke from one of my favorite movies of all time. If you’re not laughing, then you’re a deadbeat. I’ll squish you too!

How can we NOT try our hands at homemade tomato ketchup? I don’t know about you guys, but I have a garden of tomatoes that need to be eaten and I’ve got the itching to try another fresh sauce. Besides, it’s Summer time, the peak of tomato season is approaching on us and it’s bbq/grilling season–all great reasons to need buckets of ketchup to lather on my hamburgers, sliders and to drown my grilled potatoes in.

Celebrating summer’s tomato harvest is most ideal when these jewels are eaten fresh, off the vine and/or delicately tossed with a few crunchy green salads and GORGEOUS pasta. But when you’ve got a harvest that’s bigger than a bread basket and a curiosity of fresh sauces hammering in your head, this is the perfect one to add to your summer cooking repertoire.

Todd has already made his fabulous version of an Asian tomato ketchup and I wanted to make a straight up, pure tomato version from our garden tomatoes. The only aversion I had to making this was wondering if the consistency of the fresh, watery tomatoes would still produce a sauce thick enough for spreading, lathering and dunking. But after about 45 minutes of simmering the tomatoes, they reduced down to the perfect consistency.

Boy, Papa tomato would be so proud of me because I squished the crapness out of three pounds of fresh tomatoes and produced a batch of the most sweet/tangy and fresh ketchup on the face of this earth. Well, OK, I’m exaggerating that it’s the best on earth, but it is one of my favorites because I customized the spices to my preferred flavor profile.

That’s why making fresh tomato ketchup is so liberating- you can make the ketchup tangy, sweet, sour or what ever you like. Granted, my favorite bottled ketchup is still Heinz (no payment for endorsement here), but it’s refreshing to have a batch of something different, something fresh and something seasonal for Todd’s beautiful BBQ menu.

Often times we always remind ourselves to eat seasonally, locally and fresh. But how often do we ever think about making fresh condiment sauces from all this fresh produce? I can’t believe I’ve never embraced Summer’s craze of colorful vegetables before in condiments such as this tomato ketchup.

From now on, I’m going to celebrate and welcome Summer’s arrival with a big batch of ketchup from my garden tomatoes. What a fun and bottle-liberating way to hail Summer.

Happy Summer eating to you!

Diane

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Fresh Tomato Ketchup Recipe

This is an adaptation of a recipe from Project Foodie. She had an amazing garden bounty of tomatoes, which went into her homemade tomato ketchup. I started with a smaller batch of 3 pounds of tomatoes and used a smaller ratio of spices.  I also shortened the final simmering time of 2 hours to about 5 minutes because I reduced the tomatoes down enough during the first step. But again, customize this sauce to your liking with the different spices and just simmer the final sauce longer for extra thickness. Make this ketchup your very own!

Ingredients

Step 1

3 lbs. Ripe Tomatoes, chopped
1 med Onion, diced
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
2 t Black Peppercorns
2 t Mustard Seeds
2 Allspice Berries
2 whole Cloves
2 t Celery Seeds
1/2″ Cinnamon stick
1 t Paprika
pinch Cayenne Pepper
1 fresh Bay Leaf

Step 2

1/3 c Golden Brown Sugar
1/3 c Apple Cider Vinegar
Juice 1/2 of a Lemon
1 t Sea Salt

1. Place all of Step 1 ingredients into a large stockpot (at least 3.5 qt size).  Bring to a simmer and slowly cook for approx. 30-45 min., or until about 1/3 of tomato juices have evaporated. Stir regularly while cooking.

2. Allow to cool, add tomato mixture to blender and carefully blend at highest speed for about 1 min. (careful: hot liquids will jump when first blending.  Carefully pulse to start and cover with a towel.)

3. Strain through a chinoise or other similar strainer back into a saucepan. Bring back to a simmer.  Add Step 2 ingredients, adjust each to your preferred taste and simmer for about another 5 minutes, or until sugar is dissolved. Continue to thicken further to your preferred thickness.

4. Store in a closed jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Step by Step Tomato Ketchup Recipe Gallery

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More tomato and fresh sauce recipes you might enjoy:

• Heirloom tomato and Japanese shiso salad with shallot vinaigrette
• Sun Gold Tomatoes w/ tarragon, scallops, brown butter
• Sririacha style hot sauce
• Spicy Sriracha Mayo- Creamy hot sauce
• Todd’s homemade BBQ sauce

Good Bite, Internet Food Show

We made the big announcement last week about being contributors to the new internet food show called Good Bite. My first episode was with a fresh teriyaki sauce recipe that can be seen on the Good Bite site.

This week, Todd is sharing his special 4th of July recipe for Grilled Garlic Burgers and his homemade bbq sauce!

Garlic Burgers with Homemade BBQ Sauce

July 4th Favorites
Discussing our menu with David Lebovitz and Jeanne Kelley