Last week approximately 48 pounds of tomatoes made it into my kitchen (from our own garden and the farmer’s market) and were either eaten fresh, or transformed into something delicious and safely canned.

Twelve pounds of those tomatoes became ketchup. I’m not going to lie, the process is much more involved for ketchup than mustard (remember when I made mustard?), but the results are spectacular, especially if you’re interested in reducing the sugar and preservatives in your diet.

I used the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving recipe for tomato ketchup and learned a few things in the process:

1. This recipe can easily be halved. Twenty-four pounds of tomatoes seemed like a whole lot to me, and I actually ended up with 6 pints of ketchup with just ½ a recipe.
2. If you plan on making your own tomato sauce or ketchup, invest in a food mill. It is a simple (and inexpensive) tool that is worth the storage space. My mom gave me my food mill when I moved into my first apartment and I love it. The food mill separates all of the good stuff from the skins, seeds, and tough fibers of vegetables with much less effort than using a sieve and spoon. 
3. I found that the 45 minutes of boiling noted in step 5 of the Ball recipe was not nearly enough time to reduce the sauce to a familiar ketchup consistency. The time does depend on the water content of the tomatoes, but even my meaty tomatoes needed closer to 3-4 hours of reducing. I reduced the puree by over half (over the course of 3.5 hours) and it still seems a little thinner than it should be.
4. I love the addition of the cayenne pepper. The ketchup is not spicy at all, but does have a depth of flavor that I really enjoy. Kids who love store-bought ketchup may prefer the homemade without cayenne.

What is your favorite way to use tomatoes? The season may be coming to a close, but I’m still dreaming.

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