Cultured Catsup – or – Fermented Ketchup

Before we start, what do you call it, ketchup or catsup?

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Making ketchup has been at the back of my mind for quite a while now.  I had read about a girl in our community who makes her own and I was like I can do that!   So now I did.  Turns out it’s not much work, you just need to have an afternoon where you can leave a couple jars or cans of tomatoes slowly cooking down on the stove.  My recipe is fairly standard, and similar to the one linked above.  However, I use only local ingredients in my ketchup, and allow it to ferment a bit, taking inspiration from Sandor Katz :

“ The revival of fermentation at the local and regional scale goes hand in hand with the revival of local agriculture in the movement toward relocalization of our food and our economics. â€

-Sandor Katz, The Art of Fermentation , p.369

Of course projects like this raise the question of “why bother?â€Â  Well, I bother partly just because I can, but also because I like knowing what’s in my food and where it came from.  I know the farmer that grew the onion, some of the tomatoes came from our backyard, the vinegar is from apples we pressed into cider last fall, the maple syrup and honey are from local farms, and there are no mystery ingredients!  But ultimately it’s about taste, this ketchup is really super tasty.  Sadly I didn’t make a huge batch, so maybe next time I’ll double this one.

The Process:

Cook the canned tomatoes for a long time over low heat, stirring a few times every hour.  You can use a slow-cooker, I just used a Dutch oven over very low heat.  Let them cook for 4-8 hours, however long it takes to get them thick.  If they are not sufficiently uniform puree them in a food processor or with an immersion blender.

While the tomatoes are cooking dice the onion and soak it in the vinegar to infuse it with some oniony goodness.

After the tomatoes have reached your desired thickness cook them a bit more.  Then add 1 cup of the onion-infused vinegar along with the honey, maple syrup, garlic, mustard, salt, and cook 15-20 minutes more.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

When the ketchup is cool mix in the rest of the vinegar and the whey.  Transfer to a jar and allow to ferment at room temperature for 1 or more days.  Then store in the fridge.  You can even transfer it to a store-bought ketchup container in hopes of fooling your kids who may have a preference for how ketchup “should†taste….

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