Homemade Ketchup... yes please

Macie has recently become addicted to dipping. She makes me crazy with it because if she has a potato in her hand, she knows it's naked. It needs ketchup. She even goes as far as to pretend to dip it until her mom wises up and realizes what she wants. I like ketchup but it's one of those foods that has a label that  makes me cringe. Have you ever looked at the ingredient list? Don't - it's scary.

 Remember how I told you last week that I got a whole big ol' box of tomatoes from the farm stand?? Yeah, I canned a ton of tomato sauce and still had more tomatoes left. I was thinking about making some salsa but that meant another trip to the store and well, that was not happening. What does someone do with tons of tomatoes that need to be turned into something delicious??? Look at recipes. I have a fun little canning board on Pinterest and that's when I saw it...

Canning is all about hurry up and wait and then hurry up again. Making ketchup is no exception. Get all your tomatoes cleaned, cored and quartered. Throw them in a pot with some bell peppers and onions and cook them and wait. Grab your food mill or sieve and push the whole mess through to get rid of the seeds and skin (you don't want that in your ketchup - well maybe you do, but I don't). Add all the other ingredients to the pot and simmer and wait... again... for a long time. Once it's nice and thick - hurry up and can it... and try not to eat it all. 

I made some roasted potatoes, you know - to test the ketchup - and it was so good. Macie ate it, I ate it, Allen ate it. I almost didn't get any pictures because we were eating them too fast.  It doesn't taste like Heinz, it tastes way better. This recipe doesn't make a lot, so I've been considering the jars like little pots of gold. Luckily I went to the farm stand today and they had THREE boxes of tomatoes for me. People, I am up to my eyes in tomatoes -- I see some more ketchup in our future!

Homemade Ketchup - Food in Jars


4 lbs chopped tomatoes
1/2 C chopped onion
1/4 C chopped red bell pepper
1 C cider viegar
1/3 C brown sugar (a little less)
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/4 cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp whole cloves
1/2 tsp mustard seed
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cinnamon stick, crushed. 


Prepare a boiling water bath for 3 half pint jars. Combine the tomatoes, onion, and red bell peppers in a large pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce temperature to medium. Cook until vegetables are soft - about 45 minutes. Push the mixture through a sieve or food mill and discard the seeds and skins. Return the pulp to the pot. Add cider vinegar, brown sugar, celery seed, and cayenne pepper to the pot. Combine the cloves, mustard seed, allspice and crushed cinnamon stick in a cheesecloth bundle or tea ball and add to pot. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring regularly until the mixture has reduced by half and is very thick. This takes quite awhile. When the ketchup is finished cooking, remove bundle and discard. Ladle the ketchup into the prepared jars, leaving 1/2 headspace. Process in water bath for 10 minutes. 


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