One of the most common food questions we field from friends, family, and clients as they begin to actually read and pay attention to food product labels is how to replace some of their favorite condiments, ketchup and some form of barbeque sauce probably being at the top of that list.
Mass marketed, commercially-prepared ketchups (and many other condiments) are most often made with stunningly bad ingredients – high fructose corn syrup, we’re looking at you in particular (the image to the right is taken right off a ketchup bottle produced by one of the ‘big boys’ in the game).
We’ve been encouraging people to make their own condiments for years now, and for three obvious reasons. Of course one reason, and perhaps the most critical one, is that you want to control the quality and sourcing of the foods you’re consuming, and that includes eliminating foods/ingredients (like HFCS) that are frankly unhealthy.
Two, customizing your favorite condiments to suit your tastes is limited only by your imagination and willingness to experiment a little. Take this Homemade Everyday Ketchup recipe for instance; you can vary the spices and vinegar/acid components with ease, as well as how sweet you want it to be. Around our house, we like to drop a chipotle pepper (with lots of adobo clinging) in, and don’t use any additional sweetener at all (OK, my wife may make her version with a teaspoon or two of good raw honey).
And three, this recipe, like the Homemade Avocado or Olive Oil Mayo recipe we’ve shared before, is so simple a child could do it, and it takes literally minutes to do.
A good quick ketchup recipe is always handy to have in the fridge (or the ingredients on hand to make in a flash), and can serve as the base for that barbeque sauce you’re hankering for, or a number of salad dressings as well (I have a great Catalina-inspired dressing to share later…).
For those ketchup purists out there who might argue the only way to truly make a great ketchup at home is to literally start from scratch with a half bushel of fresh tomatoes, we’ll have another, more involved ketchup recipe posted in the months to come.
1 12-ounce can organic tomato paste
1/2 to 1 cup raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 to 1 cup water
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tsp onion powder OR up to 1/3 cup minced onion
2 tsp good salt
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
Optional
1/4 – 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2-5 tsp raw honey OR good maple syrup
This one couldn’t be easier; throw everything into your trusty food processor (or a deep bowl and use an immersion blender) and combine well, adding more vinegar/water to achieve whatever you deem the ideal ketchup consistency.
Enjoy.
