Ketchup is such an essential condiment for fries and you burgers that I had to share this greet recipe for homemade ketchup.

We all know that ketchup is made from tomatoes, but what exactly is in this great mixture? Well, it is essentially tomato, onion, vinegar, sugar and spices. That’s pretty much it. My recipe is completely natural, made from only fresh ingredients and delicious.

Homemade Ketchup

Makes 1 quart of Ketchup

Ingredients

6 lbs ripe Roma tomatoes
You can also use yellow tomatoes if you like a yellow ketchup

Spice packet:
1 cinnamon stick, crushed
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp red pepper flakes
10 whole cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice

6 tbsp white vinegar
1 onion, shredded finely
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

• First make the tomato puree.
• Clean tomatoes and coarsely chop them into 4 pieces each. Transfer to sauce pan that can hold all of them. Cook them over medium heat for 10 minutes once they start boiling. Take them off the heat and let cool enough to handle.
• Now pass them through a food mill that can capture the seeds. I am using a specially made Italian Tomato Press that does it with almost no effort for me (see pictures).
• While the tomatoes are cooking, add all spices to vinegar and bring to a boil. Turn off immediately, cover and let cool.
• Put tomato puree in a heavy duty pan and add the shredded onion. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for 20-30 minutes. Make sure to stir the mixture frequently to prevent scorching. If you like you ketchup completely smooth, you want to run the sauce through a food mill to puree the onions or you can puree it in a food processor, like I did. It will still be a little hunky, but I like that.
• Strain the vinegar through cheese cloth to filter the spice from the vinegar. Discard cloth with spices. Add vinegar to the tomato mixture. Add the sugar and salt and stir the mixture. Continue to simmer until the mixture thickens to ketchup consistency, about 1 hour. Turn the heat off and let cool. Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.

That’s it. You now have natural homemade ketchup that beats any commercially made ketchup any time.

Use as condiment on burgers and fries. Enjoy.