12 pints yesterday
Once I got twice as much spaghetti sauce made as in previous years, due to the popularity of my “mistake” in making it last year, I started making ketchup. We’d been out of ketchup for months.
I started getting large bowls of tomatoes every 3 – 4 days and have made 3 batches of ketchup so far in the last 2 weeks, about 30 pints. I need to check how many I made the last time. It might be time to switch back to spaghetti sauce…
I used the Ball Blue Book recipe (circa 1989) for the ingredients. I have altered it some over the years, mostly reducing the sugar drastically.
The original recipe:
4 quarts peeled, cored, chopped, red ripe tomatoes (about 24 large)
1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
½ cup chopped sweet red pepper (about ½ medium)
1½ tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. whole allspice
1 tsp. mustard seed
1 stick cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. salt
1½ cups vinegar
1 tbsp. paprika
Cook tomatoes, onions, and peppers until soft. Press through a food mill or sieve. Cook rapidly until thick (volume is reduced about one half), about 1 hour. Tie whole spices in cheesecloth bag; add with sugar and salt to tomato mixture. Cook gently about 25 mins, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Remove spice bag. Pour hot into hot jars, leaving ¼” head space. Adjust caps. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Yield: about 3 pints.
Walla onions, bell peppers, paprika peppers, paste and slicing tomatoes
How I do it now:
Ingredients:
4 qts. tomatoes, chunked, cored
2 cups onion, chunked
1 med/lg bell pepper, sliced
1 lg. paprika pepper, sliced very thin
1½ tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. whole allspice
1 tsp. mustard seed
1½ cinnamon sticks
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp. celery salt
1¾ cups apple cider vinegar
(1 tbsp. ground paprika if not using fresh)
Method:
Simmer all vegetables in vinegar for 1 hour. Run through blender on high until no small bits of veg appear. Pour into a sieve to remove seeds and tough pieces of vegs.
Place all seasonings in large SS teaballs, except salt and sugar (and ground paprika). Return all ingredients to pot and bring to a boil. Keep at a low boil, stirring every ½ hour, until reduced by ½.
Pour hot into hot jars and process 10 mins.
10 pints
How thick it is will be determined by how far down you reduce it. I cooked the 12 pint batch for 3 hrs and it only reduced 1” down the side of the pan. The 10 pint batch I reduced by ½ and it was still rather thin. I suspect the tomatoes had been picked after a big rain…. The 12 pint batch were picked after a short dry spell.
