Canning Ketchup

I’ve never figured out what differentiates ketchup from catsup and I guess I really don’t care to find out, because whatever this is, it’s good and it has replaced the squeeze bottle stuff from the store for our family. For the purposes here, I label my jars ketchup because it’s ketchup in our household.

This recipe was adapted from one I found and tried online and tweaked to work for the tastes of my family! Feel free to add the spices you prefer and taste it as you make it.

This is a waterbath canning recipe and it has alot of vinegar in it, so it’s definitely safe and acidic enough to do so. I’ve actually tested it with a pH tester and it was well below 4.6. But, obviously, my kitchen, my rules, and if you’re not comfortable with canning this you can freeze or refrigerate. I cannot control what happens in your kitchen and I don’t plan to try!

I normally make this ketchup in two phases. I first process the tomatoes and simmer them til reduced by half, add the vinegar, sugar, spices, and clear jel, let cool and refrigerate until I have more tomatoes ready in a day or two. For the tomato paste portion, it can be store bought cans or I just take about 10-12# of tomatoes that need processed, run them through my food mill, and simmer them down to about 1.5 quarts and add a few tablespoons of tomato powder. This isn’t tomato paste but it works for me. I then add it to the pot of everything else and simmer til its to my liking. This can also be done in a crockpot on low with the lid cocked or off, I’m just not doing that anymore because last year I forgot about it and burnt the living daylights out of a batch! :D

Be sure to taste this ketchup after adding the tomato paste and make sure the seasoning and spices and sweetness level are to your liking! Adjust as necessary. Happy canning, friends!