My relationship with ketchup has been anything but simple since my daughter discovered it and started eating it almost exclusively. First we tried organic ketchup, but when you are going through a bottle a week it tends to overpower the most generous of grocery budgets. Then I discovered Hunt’s. Hunts used to make their most sold bottles with no HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) and I was delighted to buy it. However, suddenly and without warning they changed their mind and only started making their larger bottles without the HFCS. Of course these never go on sale! I was annoyed and set out see what I could do about.
Of course I could make my own–why didn’t I think of that before?! So I found a recipe that said it was simple and made it with crushed tomatoes that you blended after cooking down. Well, I don’t have a food processor and my hand blender left some chunks. The Princess was not a fan and I went back to the drawing board.
I did my research and there are many different ways of making ketchup! You can purchase some seeds, grow your tomatoes, process your tomatoes, and finally they will end up as ketchup. People with toddlers should not try this method at all! Then after reading lots of recipes and finding none of them exactly fit what I wanted my ketchup to taste like or how long I wanted to take to make my ketchup I came up with this simple method that occasionally my daughter will eat. She still prefers the store-bought stuff, but I have hope that she will eventually adjust her taste buds. When she really wants ketchup she eats my homemade ketchup and says it is good.
Simple Ketchup:
1 15 oz can organic tomato sauce
1 6 oz can organic tomato paste
1/2 cup organic apple cider vinegar
4 T honey
1 T molasses
1/2-1 t freshly ground pepper
1/2 t allspice
1/4 t Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
salt to taste
Combine everything in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until flavors are combined about 15-20 minutes. Let cool and then store in container of choice.