I remember as a kid being addicted to ketchup. One time I even cried on the way home after I realized there was no ketchup for my French fries. I was so picky that I wouldn’t even eat them until I got home. When I started cleaning up my diet due to some health issues, I switched to organic ketchup. It didn’t taste the same, but it was better than nothing. I knew the organic ketchup wasn’t as healthy as if I had made my own, but I had tried several times to make ketchup, and nobody liked it. I kept giving up. A couple years ago I quit eating ketchup altogether, but my family still ate it. I don’t like the large amount of white processed sugar in organic ketchup, and I’m convinced that there’s something in there that’s not listed on the ingredients, (I have learned recently that this is very common) so I decided to try again.

Last week, after most of the garden was harvested, I decided to try ketchup again. I looked at the ingredients on the ketchup bottle, and my notes from previous experiments, and got started. Kailey picked and blended my tomatoes. I added all the spices, natural salt, and maple sugar from our pantry. I cooked this down for about 2 hours (until I got the right consistency). Then I blended it with a stick blender (this made the texture very smooth) and tried it. After adding a little more spice and maple sugar I called it good.

After it sat in the refrigerator for a day, we finally tried it with some homemade French fries. Everyone agreed that it was my best ketchup yet, and I was so excited when everyone (except one person) said they would be willing to switch to my homemade ketchup. The next day this same person decided that while my ketchup wasn’t as smooth, it was better, because there was no reaction that was normally experienced after the store-bought ketchup. That says a lot. It looks like I will need to add a few more tomato plants to the garden next year. So while the texture is good, it’s just not quite as smooth as what you get in the store (it’s close). Maybe you have some ideas?