Ketchup - a canning tutorial

On Monday it was my birthday, but since the Hubster had a long workday I decided it would be a great day to can up some ketchup. (He's working from 8am until 10pm on Monday and Wednesdays this summer. He works his administrative job during the day and then teaches two classes in the evenings.)

I've been wanting to try ketchup for a long time now, but Michelle's recent post about canning up ketchup nudged me into it. I also took an inventory of our food storage and realized that we had stocked up on commercially canned organic tomato sauce already and still have two cases of home-canned stewed tomatoes left from last season.

So...ketchup it was!

I did things a little differently than many recipes indicate.

The first decision I made was that I would puree the tomatoes instead of starting out with chopped tomatoes and later grinding them in a food mill.

We have a tool called the Sauce Master Food Strainer that I use for making applesauce and tomato sauce. I thought it would be perfect for the first step in making the tomato puree I'd need to make the ketchup.


Sauce Master Food Strainer

The other thing I did differently was not weighing the tomatoes. True confession time - I never weigh fruits and vegetables when canning. I always just eyeball them and estimate. I'm usually pretty much on-target, btw!

So I started with a heaping bowl of mostly ripe tomatoes. As an aside this is the same measurement that usually results in 7 quarts of canned veggies.


big bowl of mostly ripe tomatoes

Then I assembled the Sauce Master.


the sauce master all set up and ready to go

Before putting the tomatoes into the Sauce Master I chopped them. Quarter chops are sufficient.


chop the tomatoes before putting them in the hopper of the Sauce Master

The Sauce Master is a pretty clever little gadget. You put the chopped tomatoes in the hopper at the top of the Sauce Master...


chopped tomatoes in the hopper of the sauce master

and then you turn the handle and the peels, stems, cores, seeds, and any other solidish matter go out one side of the grinder...


the seeds and peels go out one side

and the pureed tomato goes out the other side.


and the pureed tomatoes to out another side

In addition to the tomatoes I also peeled and chopped some onions.


onions

And pureed them using our food processor.


pureed onions

Then I took some green peppers...


green peppers

chopped them and pureed them in the food processor as well.


pureed green peppers

All of the pureed vegetables went into a large stockpot and simmered for about two hours to reduce the liquid a bit.


pureed veggies in the stockpot

Then I assembled the rest of the ingredients needed to make ketchup: vinegar, sugar, salt, hot sauce, paprika, cinnamon sticks, whole allspice, whole cloves, and ground mustard. The hot sauce wasn't an ingredient included in the original recipe. I added it as a substitution since I didn't have any cayenne pepper left.


ingredients - vinegar, sugar, salt, hot sauce, paprika, cinnamon sticks, whole allspice, whole cloves, ground mustard

The recipe I used was one from a 1974 edition of The Ball Blue Book, but I didn't follow it exactly.

My version:

4 quarts of pureed tomatoes
4 green peppers, pureed
3 medium onions, pureed
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp whole allspice
2 cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp hot pepper sauce

I measured out the solid spices - the whole cinnamon sticks, whole allspice, and whole cloves and tied them up in some cheesecloth.


solid spices - whole cinnamon sticks, whole allspice, whole cloves - set on cheesecloth

Then I mixed all of the ingredients together in the stockpot and put in the cheesecloth bundle. I let the mixture simmer for about 4 hours. Either I or the boy stirred the sauce about once per half hour throughout that time.


ketchup cooked down and ready to put into jars

When the ketchup was the consistency that we wanted it was time to begin the canning.

The ketchup was canned using the hot water bath method. The first step in water bath canning is to place clean jars in a large pot of water and boil them for five minutes to sterilize them.


jars in the canner warming up

I usually begin heating up the water while the food I'm planning to can is still cooking because it takes a while to bring a large pot of water up to boiling.

Then I filled a small saucepan with warm water and placed in the canning jar lids. I turned the heat on low to warm the lids up. Warmed lids form a better seal.


canning jar lids warming up in a saucepan full of water

Next I laid out the tools I'd need - clean cloth for wiping down the rims of the jars, magnetic lid lifter, canning jar tongs, canning funnel, ladle, and canning jar rings.


tools laid out - clean cloth for wiping rims of jars, magnetic lid lifter, canning jar tongs, canning funnel, ladle, jar rings

When the jars had been sufficiently sterilized I removed one from the canner with the tongs and emptied the hot water into my sink. Then I placed the canning funnel in the jar and ladled the boiling ketchup into the jar. I filled it to about an inch of the top. The recipe said that I could leave as little as 1/4" head space, but I know from experience canning tomato products that I have better results leaving more head space.


filling jar with boiling ketchup

Then I lifted a warmed lid out of the saucepan and placed on the center of the filled jar. I placed a ring over it and tightened it down.


jar filled and lid and ring on

Then I used the canning jar tongs and placed the filled jar back into the canner. I repeated until all of the ketchup was in the canning jars. I ended up filling three pints with ketchup.


filled jars back in the canner

Then I put the lid back on the canner and made sure the burner was turned up to high. Once the water reached boiling I set a timer for 15 minutes and processed the jars for 15 minutes.

Then when the timer went off I turned off the burner and removed the lid from canner. I set the timer for 5 minutes and let the jars wait in the canner.

Then when the 5 minutes had passed I used the canning jar tongs and carefully removed the jars from the canner. I set them on a piece of cardboard on my countertop to cool.


three pints of canned ketchup

After the jars had cooled I removed the rings and checked the seals. You know you have a good seal when you press into the center of the lid and the lid does not move back. I wiped down the jars and wrote the contents and date on the lid.


jars cleaned and labeled

While I was cooking up the ketchup I tasted it at several points. I found my adapted recipe to be somewhat spicey and more akin to a cocktail sauce than regular ketchup. The onions I used were pretty strong and I think that's part of the reason for the spicier flavor. I think the next batch will have only one onion or perhaps even onion powder instead of fresh onion puree.


I also linked this post over at Raising Homemakers Homemaking Link-up Day!