Confession time: I can't remember the last time I bought a bottle of ketchup. Seriously! I don't eat it, unless I am putting it in something else... and most of the time I use plain tomato sauce. This is a clear indication that I don't have any kids running around and digging into my fridge.
I remember being a 'kid' and craving big mounds of ketchup with salt and pepper mixed in for my greasy basket full of curly fries.... it wasn't that long ago. But somewhere between here and there, my metabolism changed... and eating greasy foods started to cause major intestinal distress. After a few sleepless nights, I finally put two and two together and realized the greasy fried foods and me were going our separate ways.
The number of times I have eaten french fries from one of those fast-food burger places in the last year I can count on one hand. Don't get me wrong... I still love and crave those foods, but I can't eat them as regularly as I used to and... I'm glad that my body rejects that lifestyle. Eating healthier isn't a hard choice in my situation.
The need for ketchup is something I don't have anymore, but I know there are a few moms with kids out there that might. I'm hoping those moms are a little health-conscious, too. If they are, then they have read the ketchup bottle ingredient label just like I have and noticed something unusual. Ketchup doesn't have just one corn syrup listed... it has TWO.
That's a little disconcerting to me, how about you?
Thank ConAgra foods for helping those poor subsidized corn farmers pedal their poison (high-fructose corn syrup) and just normal plain corn syrup, too, in those familiar brands of ketchup lining the grocery store shelves. We might as well be hooking our kids up to a sugar IV.
Sure they're little hummingbird-like metabolism can crank through those empty calories without much problem, most of the time. But the real harm is setting those sugar-craving tastebuds with such a high base-line at such an early age.... and those cravings will only increase as they age. We are just now beginning to realize the complex relationships we develop as kids to our food, the physiology of how our tastebuds work and why we have certain cravings. I was a toothpick as a kid, could eat a horse and not gain an ounce.
Not anymore, my sweet tooth has caught up to me and now I struggle with weight issues just like a lot of us middle-aged folks, which is why I am so interested in what people are doing to rebel against the Western Diet and the host of health-issues it has caused.
So let me put up my soap box now... and let's look at doing some home made ketchup without as much sugar.
If you're reading that label above and wondering about Lycopene and why it's important enough to be displayed so prominently, then read this.
The Howcast version:
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"A Blessed Relief for Mothers..." that's some voodoo marketing right there! Wow! If you're not one of those folks with sensitive tastebuds that can taste the can in the canned tomatoes, this could be workable. Certainly a time saver, too.
Jonathan Wallace (random Youtuber English bloak with a greenhouse) version:
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Notice the tomato skins and seeds are left in... with the smaller grape and cherry tomato varieties the process of taking the skins off turns into a nightmare chore. If you don't want a chunk of sticky tomato skin wedged in your teeth while enjoying your home-made ketchup, using a sieve or ricer as you're bottling, to sift out the woody bits of cinnamon or chunks of tomato skin, would be advisable.
The organic/gourmet Steviva version:
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Love how this guy thinks... you could use his healthy ketchup on french fries (oops, but those are unhealthy) so his next thought was naturally onion rings.... oh yeah "whole wheat" onion rings. Okay, nice try... but if you buy fresh potatoes and pan fry them in a little bit of olive oil and lightly salt them while they are hot and draining on a rack or paper-towel lined plate.... those are just as "healthy" as the onion rings.
It's NOT what some would consider "healthy"... but healthier than McDonalds and the like. Baby steps!
Nice visual aid at the beginning of the video though.... one tablespoon of store-bought ketchup has one teaspoon of sugar in it. Quick conversion factor: 1 Tablespoon = 3 teaspoons.
Let's make some Un-Refined Chef Homemade Ketchup:
I'm not going to go through the list of ingredients one-by-one from the back of a bottle of Heinz ketchup, because 1) I don't have one to look at from my fridge, and 2) the main objectionable ingredient is high-fructose corn syrup.... and probably too much salt. I'm skeptical about the red dye, since the FDA cracked down a few years ago to get rid of the carcinogenic one... nobody wants to be known as the company using "red dye" in anything food related. It is entirely possible to have a very bright looking ketchup as long as you stay away from brown sugar and molasses as your choice of sweetener. If a dye is used... then it has to appear on the ingredient label. Avoid them!
INGREDIENTS:
- 5-6 Roma tomatoes
- 1 small yellow onion (substitute shallots)
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup molasses (feeling brave: sub a red delicious apple or mango for natural fruit sugars)
- 10-12 fresh basil leaves
- 1 Tbl Extra Virgin Olive oil
- 1/8 tsp ground allspice, clove, cinnamon
- Fresh ground Sea Salt and Black Peppercorns to taste
To start, sweat your onions in the olive oil on medium heat in a sauté pan, once they get some caramelizing started then add your chopped garlic. No need to knock yourself out finely mincing, let the food processor do that for you at the end.
Add your roughly chopped roma tomatoes, vinegar and molasses then simmer on low heat for about an hour. Stir occasionally and look for a little thickening. Take off heat and add your basil and other spices. Pour contents into a food processor and blend ingredients thoroughly.
When you're finished pour through a sieve or ricer into a storage container. Quality control inspection at this stage is mandatory, if you haven't been monitoring progress all along. Adjust salt/sugar ratio to your liking. Add a little cayenne or Tabasco if you like a kick and want to keep the kids out of "your" ketchup. Refrigerate and enjoy for the next two or three weeks.
For this recipe, (which I down-sized considerably from Epicurious), it should be noted that your ketchup has a longer shelf life than last week's mayonnaise because tomatoes are naturally more acidic, plus the addition of our old friend "vinegar", we are not giving the aerobic bacteria much to work with, but don't get complacent and let this hard work go to waste in the nether recesses of the back of your fridge.
What else can I do with home-made ketchup?
So you're not in the mood for french fries and onion rings... what else is there? Ketchup + Mayonnaise + Sweet Relish = Poor Man's Thousand Island. If you take my suggestion above about adding mangoes (leave them diced and chunky), then you can plate up some grilled shrimp on a bed of rice and pour the ketchup/mango mix over it. I make a spicy papaya ketchup with roasted red bell peppers for a dipping sauce to go with Patata Bravas, a traditional Spanish tapas, to rave reviews.
There isn't much difference between ketchup and chili sauce (at least the American version of chili sauce), so you could add some fresh horseradish to your home-made ketchup and squeeze some lemon juice, too... making your very own cocktail sauce for cocktail shrimp. That'll make you a big hit at the next party!
Final note: No, I will not encourage anyone to destroy a perfectly good breakfast dish by adding ketchup. Go right ahead though... don't let me stop you!
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While I encourage this video guy to get singing lessons.... I will also start working on the next Un-Refined Chef article when we discover how to make our own home-made mustard. I'll brush up on my French.
Au Revoir Mon Ami/e... Bon Appetit!
Chef Archer
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