Homemade ketchup

Homemade ketchup is a great way to use up excess tomatoes from the garden

  • Prep:10 mins
    Cook:1 hrs 10 mins
  • Easy

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 25
  • fat 1g
  • saturates 0g
  • carbs 4g
  • sugars 4g
  • fibre 0g
  • protein 0g
  • salt 0.08g

Ingredients

  • 4 good-size onions, very roughly chopped
  • 250g celery, very roughly chopped
  • 5 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 short cinnamon stick
  • 1 tsp allspice
  • ½ tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 tsp celery salt
  • 2kg ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 3 tbsp tomato purée
  • ½ tsp Tabasco sauce
  • 200ml white wine vinegar
  • 200g golden caster sugar

Tip

Jar sterilising
To sterilise jars, run them through the dishwasher, or wash in hot soapy water and let dry in a warm oven. Fill the jars while they and the ketchup are still warm, seal, then keep in a cool, dark place.

Method

  1. Put the onions and celery into a food processor and whizz until finely chopped. Heat the oil in a very large saucepan, add the onions and celery, cover, then soften over a low heat for 5 mins. Add the garlic, cook 5 mins more, then tip in the spices and cook for 1 min.

  2. Now stir in all remaining ingredients and bring to the boil. Keep on a bubbling simmer, uncovered, for 1 hr until the tomatoes are squashy and the liquid has reduced by several inches.

  3. Whizz the mix with a stick blender until smooth, then sieve into a bowl. The ketchup will thicken a little when it cools, but if yours seems very runny (this will depend on the juiciness of your tomatoes), put it back on the heat and cook a little longer, stirring often, until reduced. Keep the ketchup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 months, or freeze in batches. If you like, keep in sterilised bottles or jars for up to 6 months - see tip, below.

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