Cooking corner: This ketchup is better than the bottle

David W. Cowles

guest columnist

Without any doubt, ketchup is America’s favorite condiment. It’s found in most every home and virtually all restaurants. We put ketchup on french fries, eggs and much more.

My father used it on apple pie and chocolate cake.

Ketchup is an ingredient in Thousand Island dressing and barbecue sauces.

The word ketchup comes from the Chinese word ke-tsiap, a pickled fish sauce. It was brought to the West by 17th Century English sailors.

Over the years, the recipe gradually changed, most notably with the inclusion of tomatoes in the 1700s.

The Heinz Company began selling tomato ketchup in 1876.

I think this recipe was originally published in a Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book about 50 years ago.

If you get your tomatoes at the grocery store, this ketchup can be very expensive to make. Remember: You can buy giant bottles of ketchup inexpensively at discount food warehouses.

Regardless, there’s no ketchup on the market that can compare with the piquant flavor of this homemade tomato ketchup.

KETCHUP

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 teaspoons whole cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons broken stick cinnamon

1 teaspoon celery seed

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 cup white vinegar

8 pounds ripe tomatoes (about 25 medium tomatoes)

1 tablespoon chopped onion

1 cup granulated sugar

4 teaspoons kosher salt

DIRECTIONS

Measure the cloves, cinnamon, celery seed, black pepper and cayenne pepper and place into a small saucepan. Add the vinegar.

Heat to a boil. Cover, remove from the heat, and let the spices steep while you prepare the tomato mixture.

Peel the tomatoes. Place in a kettle and mash. Add the onion.

Heat to a boil. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Put tomatoes through a food mill or food processor. Strain to remove seeds and any solids.

Add the sugar. Heat to a boil, then simmer briskly.

Cook, uncovered, until you have only half the amount you began with. Measure the amount with a ruler, so you won’t have to guess later. When the mixture looks as if it has cooked down to half, check your guess with the ruler.

It will take 45 to 60 minutes.

Strain the vinegar and spice mixture directly into the tomato mixture. Discard the spices.

Add the salt. Simmer to the consistency you like for ketchup.

Makes 2 pints.

FASTEST CHEF’S TOMATO KETCHUP

Now that I’ve teased you with made-from-scratch ketchup, I’m going to give you a recipe for ketchup that’s almost as good but requires far less work.

And it makes enough so that you can freeze it or put some in a can.

I gave a jar of this ketchup to my friend, Eddie Peresman. A few days later, he told me that he had been eating the ketchup on crackers, with nothing else — it was so good!

INGREDIENTS

1 gallon tomato juice, canned

3 cups white or cider vinegar

3 cups granulated sugar

1 small onion

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 1/2 tablespoons whole cloves

1 1/2 tablespoons broken stick cinnamon

1 tablespoon celery seed

1 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS

Smoosh the onion with 1 cup of the vinegar in a food processor.

Put the remaining vinegar and spices (cloves, cinnamon, celery seed, black pepper and cayenne pepper) in a small saucepan.

Bring to a rolling boil. Lower the heat and simmer for five minutes.

Turn off the heat and let the spices steep in the vinegar for 30 minutes.

In a large pot, put the tomato juice, sugar, salt and vinegar/onion mixture. Strain the vinegar-spice mixture into the tomato juice.

Measure the height of the liquid inside the pot.

Simmer, uncovered, until the mixture has cooked down to half the original height, or is of the desired thickness.

Remember: Hot ketchup is thinner than ketchup that has cooled.

Place in canning jars and process for 15 minutes. Or put in plastic bottles and store in your freezer.

Makes 5 pints.

Reach David W. Cowles at dwcowles-gateway@comcast.net.