How to Make Ketchup

sugar

🥗Healthier: honey

💰Cheaper: brown sugar

Honey provides natural sweetness while brown sugar adds depth.

vinegar

🥗Healthier: apple cider vinegar

💰Cheaper: white vinegar

Apple cider vinegar offers a milder flavor.

Start by lighting a chimney of lump charcoal for the grill.

Add a fire starter and load the chimney with lump charcoal.

Once the chimney is ready, dump the charcoal onto one side of the grill.

For the classic ketchup, open one can of Italian peeled tomatoes and add it to the blender.

Add 2 cups of distilled white vinegar to the blender.

Add 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of kosher salt to the blender.

Peel and crush 2 cloves of garlic and add them to the blender.

Peel and chop 1/4 of a small yellow onion and add it to the blender.

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Pour the blended mixture into an enamel dutch oven.

Place the dutch oven on the grill to reduce the ketchup to about 2 cups.

Prepare a sachet of pickling spice by bundling it in cheesecloth and tying it with kitchen twine.

Add the sachet of pickling spice to the ketchup in the dutch oven.

Grill 2 pounds of fresh tomatoes until they are blistered and blackened on the outside.

Remove the grilled tomatoes and add them to the blender.

Smash the grilled tomatoes slightly to make them easier to blend.

Add the same ingredients as before: 2 cups of distilled white vinegar, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of kosher salt to the blender with the grilled tomatoes.

Add 3 habaneros (stems removed and roughly chopped) to the blender.

Add onion and garlic to the blender with the grilled tomatoes and habaneros.

Blend until smooth and pour into another enamel dutch oven.

Add 1 tablespoon of pickling spice to the second ketchup mixture.

Simmer both ketchups on the grill until they reach the desired thickness and color.

Check the thickness of the ketchups; they should be reduced to about 2 cups and have a thick consistency.

Remove the ketchups from the grill and allow them to cool before tasting.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level: