Do you enjoy the taste of tomato ketchup? Perhaps you enjoy the taste but don’t like the cost. Or maybe you just want to be a bit more creative and enjoy the process of making your own at home. All these reasons and more are why you might have found the perfect article for you. In it, we’re going to look at how to make your own ketchup at home.
Some of these skills could even help you with other processes, but at the very least —after you read this article you should know a bit more about how to make your own tasty ketchup with relative ease, and without having to buy any from the shop. Yes, you’ll need a few ingredients, but so what? Making your own ketchup can be the fun, affordable, creative and tasty option that’s so much better than going to the store. So let’s get started…
Benefits of making your own ketchup.
Taste
You might be happy with the taste of shop bought ketchup, but not everyone is. That’s not really REAL ketchup. If you make your own, you can put much more thought and effort into the ingredients, making the best tasting ketchup you can imagine. While it might sometimes take a few attempts to get the absolute best, most of what you create should be a lot better than what you can buy from the store.
This is the real reason why making your own ketchup can often be the best way to go about things. Making your own ketchup will normally give you a much, much tastier end product.
Cost
While ketchup from the store can be cheap, it isn’t always. It might cost a bit more if you have to go out and buy new ingredients to make your own ketchup, but often you’ll have them around the kitchen already. That makes the cost not much at all, especially if you use the other ingredients for other things as well.
While making your own ketchup can be cost effective, especially if you make massive batches, it isn’t the real reason or reasons why people want to make their own ketchup at home. Let’s get onto them…
Enjoyment
One of the best reasons to make your own ketchup is that it’s actually fun! While not everyone enjoys being creative in the kitchen, lots of people actually do. Well taking a bit of type out and relaxing while making some nice and tasty ketchup can be a really fun way to relax and enjoy yourself.
Creative freedom
Another great thing about creating your own ketchup is that you can really be as creative as you want. if you have specific tastes or ideas you can try them out. If you like certain spices or other twists, this is an easy thing to do. Trial and error can be great fun here. See what works, and what doesn’t. That’s part of the fun! You might come up with some wonderful creating that nobody ever thought of before.
Quality ingredients
When you make your own ketchup at home, you’ll know EXACTLY what went into it. This is great, especially in a world where things like ketchup can often have all sorts of additives in them when you buy them from the store. When you make your own, you’ll know what ingredients and what sort of other things have gone into them. If you want to spend a bit more, you can make higher quality ketchup that might not even be available in the store.
Dietary requirements
This is a slightly related point, but you’ll also be able to get ketchup that fits specific dietary needs and requirements. Some people are allergic to certain ingredients, so if you make your own, you’ll know exactly what’s gone into that great ketchup you just made at home.
How to make ketchup
Start with sweating down an onion for a few minutes. Use red onion if you want it a bit sweeter. Then add some fresh tomatoes and a few spices of your choice and simmer it down for a bit. Cook the onion till its soft and brown then add the garlic, red pepper and allspice. You can be creative here and use other spices if you want, like paprika. You can also omit some if that’s what you want.
Toast the spices to give more taste before you add any liquid. Then you can start adding tomato paste and cook it for a bit more until the mix is red to orange in colour.
You can then try the next few things to add like tinned tomatoes, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar and salt. Simmer for a while til it is thick and shiny. You will then need to blend the liquid. This can be done in a blender or liquidizer but be careful as it might be hot. You can make it as thick or liquidy as you want.
Now you’ve got ketchup! This could be stored for up to a month in the fridge if you keep it in a sealed container.
How to make ketchup the easy way
You’ve seen the proper way to make ketchup, now you have to decide if that’s for you. But did you know there is actually a cheap way to come up with wonderful condiments at home? This might not have the benefits of being able to pick your own ingredients and some of the other good points we looked at, but it’s still fun and affordable…
Simple pick some different condiments and sauces and mix them together to your heart’s content! Try mixing mayo, ketchup and mustard to create a burger sauce. There are all sorts of combos you can try and it can be really fun and easy.
Whichever way you choose, you can now enjoy all sorts of different sauces either with chips or anything else you like dipping. These are much better than just sticking to the same old bottle by itself!
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