Homemade Ketchup

or is it catsup?

Learn how to make homemade ketchup from canned tomatoes.
Avoid artificial ingredients.

Take a look at your store bought ketchup ingredients. High fructose corn syrup was the second ingredient on the brand I was using. That is when I decided to investigate canning my own homemade ketchup.

I tried several times before I came up with this recipe that finally met with the approval of my crew.

Ketchup can be processed safely in a Water Bath Canner

This makes about 3 pints which is a small batch. It can be processed or just refill your ketchup bottle and store in the fridge.

If you like it, double it the next time. That way you can process 6 pints. I don't like running a half full canner. Seems so inefficient.

Prepare

Gather your canning supplies

water bath canner
canning jars
canning seals and rings
jar lifter
canning funnel
large pot
bowls
large spoons
sharp knife
towels and dish cloths
ladle
Slow cooker
Food mill

Ingredients

4 quarts tomato puree.
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped sweet pepper
1 1/2 cups vinegar
1 T celery salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1 stick cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar

Start by preparing jars, and get water in your canner heating.
(see Water Bath Canning for full directions)

Procedure

Combine 1 quart tomatoes, onion, sweet pepper. Simmer until vegetables are soft.

Press all tomatoes and tomatoes with onion and sweet pepper through a food mill to remove seeds and/or skins.

Bring to a boil in a stock pot. Boil rapidly until thickened, stirring often. It will reduce quantity by half. This may take an hour or so.

Add vinegar, salt, sugar and other seasonings. Add cinnamon stick.

Place sauce in a slow cooker on high with the cover removed. Cook until thickened to your desired consistency. Again stirring often. This may take another hour or even several hours.

Remove cinnamon stick.

You can then put into a jar and refrigerate for use or you may process in pint jars. I saved my last ketchup bottle from the store and refill it from this recipe.

If you want to process for storage on the shelf use the following directions.

Pour hot ketchup into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.

Remove air bubbles with a plastic knife or other small tool. I like to use an orange peeler. Wipe rims clean and process according to water bath canning directions.

Process

pints- process for 10 minutes

Altitude Adjustments for Boiling Water Bath Canner
Altitude in Feet	Increase processing time
1001-3000	5 minutes
3001-6000	10 minutes
6001-8000	15 minutes
8001-10,000	20 minutes