Homemade ketchup

How do you make homemade ketchup? Here are all the steps to effortlessly make the best sauce ever!

After mayonnaise (or before?) ketchup is the most famous and appreciated sauce. With its sweet and sour flavor it cannot be missed together with burgers, hot dogs and chips. We decided to prepare homemade ketchup in an attempt to make it "healthier" than the one on the market. Of course, there is always a fair amount of sugar so it shouldn't be abused, but we can be satisfied with this "imitation".

Contrary to what you might think, the ketchup recipe is very simple and requires few ingredients . However, as many will have noticed, it is difficult to find two sauces that have the same flavor because there is no real codified recipe. We have created one that goes well with the tastes of the Bel Paese, using fresh and seasonal ingredients .

How to make homemade ketchup recipe

1. First, peel the onion and slice it finely.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onion until it is tender then add the tomato puree . Leave to flavor on high heat for 5 minutes.
3. Add the spices , vinegar , sugar and salt and cook over medium-low heat (it should just simmer) for 1 hour . Taste to add salt.
4. At this point, blend with an immersion blender to obtain a dense and silky consistency. If necessary, you can put everything back on the heat at high heat for a few minutes, stirring often.
5. Transfer to jars and, once cold, place in the refrigerator.

Now that your ketchup is ready, all you have to do is bring it to the table. You certainly won't need us to find pairings worthy of it, but we still want to recommend you try it with fried chicken , hot dogs and in burgers. Another simple sauce to make at home is mayonnaise : together they are a triumph for the palate.

We also leave you a short video with all the steps to prepare it and an alternative idea on the spices to use.

After the first tasting you can decide to increase or decrease the quantity of spices according to your tastes. Our advice is to cook it until it is dense enough, like the one purchased. For a thicker ketchup you can add natural thickeners : 1 tablespoon of flour, 1 teaspoon of corn starch or half an apple with the peel (cut into cubes and cooked together with the tomato).

Conservation

Homemade ketchup will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days . Alternatively you can pour it, while still boiling, into sterilized glass jars . Close them with a new cap and put them to boil for 35-40 minutes, wrapping them with a clean cloth, so as to pasteurize them . Let them cool in the water then dry them and place them in the pantry. They will keep for over 6 months .

Origin and history of ketchup

We are used to associating ketchup with the United States. After all, it is here that it experienced its maximum development and it is also here that the most famous brand is based. Yet ketchup sauce has Asian origins and was originally prepared by allowing soy sauce and anchovies to ferment. In Malay it was called kecap (but the pronunciation is the same as ketchup) and was exported first to Europe and then to the Americas by Chinese merchants.

However, the first written recipe dates back to 1727 and is contained in the volume The Complete Housewife by Elizabeth Smiths . Very different from the preparation we know today, it included: anchovies, shallots, vinegar, white wine, pepper, lemon zest and cloves, ginger and nutmeg.

Once it arrived in the USA, it encountered the large cultivations of tomatoes which, together with the different tastes of the population, gave life to a sauce similar to the one we know today. However, it was Mr. Heinz who created the real Tomato Ketchup in 1876 . He increased the quantity of sugar and vinegar, added onion and spices and this is how it is still prepared today.

In Italy there is an indigenous version of ketchup known as salsa rubra , the commercial version of the Piedmontese red bath, excellent for accompanying boiled meat.

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