Tomato Ketchup

Name: Tomato Ketchup
Yield: Makes 8 half-pints
Ingredients: ½ cup chopped celery, with leaves; 1½ cups chopped onion; 1 bay leaf; 1 teaspoon ground coriander or 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds; 8 quarts meaty, ripe Italian-type plum tomatoes (or equivalent amount of other tomatoes, preferably of a fleshy variety); 1 stick cinnamon (about 2 inches), broken up; ¼ teaspoon celery seed; 2 cups cider vinegar; ¼ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes or ⅛ teaspoon bottled hot pepper sauce, or to taste; 1 teaspoon whole cloves; 2 tablespoons salt; ½ cup chopped sweet red pepper (about 1 medium-large pepper); 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tablespoon whole allspice berries; 1 tablespoon mustard seeds; ½ cup (packed) dark brown sugar, more if desired; 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns; ¼ cup granulated sugar

Preparation info

Makes
8 pints

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Better Than Store-Bought

By Helen Witty and Elizabeth Schneider

Published 1979

About

If you can wait a while (preferably 3 or 4 weeks) to open ajar and taste this smooth, spicy ketchup, its flavors will have blended subtly. We like to think of ketchup in its original sense—a seasoning to be incorporated in other preparations as well as a solo table sauce.

Ketchup came to America, as might be expected, from the sauce-loving British, who learned of its virtues in the Far East. In earlier days —and still in Britain today—ketchups were made from green walnuts, mushrooms