homemade ketchup recipe

last week we ran out of ketchup. i've known for ages that making ketchup is super easy, but i didn't realize just how easy until i did it the other day.

so here is the thing. what things are 'pointless' to make by yourself? i mean, why make such standard items as crackers and toothpaste? well, because you can. and it is one less thing you are buying from a conglomerate grocery chain and food corporation. plus with items that come packaged in fancy squeeze bottles such as ketchup, you are cutting back on packaging. i saved a couple of ketchup squeeze bottles to store our homemade stuff in. consider also that raw materials are more economical to transport, so instead of buying a value added product that has had the raw materials transported to a factory, produced, and then transported elsewhere to sell, you are making something directly from raw materials, thereby cutting out the middle man.

anyway, the point is that ketchup is super easy to make. if you have ever made pasta sauce then why not make ketchup?

it's all about the ratio of sour and sweet.

i used 2 parts tomato, 1 part vinegar and 1/2 part sugar.
(for example, 2 cups of tomato, 1 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup sugar)

this will vary depending on your tomatoes.

as extras, i added some salt and some powdered mustard, then let it cook down on low heat for about 45 minutes before whizzing it with a hand blender. then let it cook down a bit more until it reached a viscosity similar to bottled ketchup. i took a last taste test and added a bit extra vinegar and sugar then cooked it a bit longer

let it cool and then pour into washed and sterilized recycled ketchup squeeze bottles.

some things just don't taste the same without it.