New Old-Time Tomato Ketchup

Used the last of the ketchup last week, so I made more today. This is the basis of my recipe, from Canning Preserving and Jelly Making by Janet McKenzie Hill, 1915.

"Old-time Tomato Catsup: Slice a peck of ripe tomatoes and two dozen onions. Let them boil one hour. Then press through a sieve. Add one quart of vinegar, one pint of port wine, one tablespoon of ground cloves, one tablespoon of allspice, half an ounce of mace, four nutmegs, grated, one tablespoon and a half of pepper, one scant teaspoonful of cayenne, and half a cup of salt. Scald over the fire and store in fruit jars or in bottles, covering the corks with sealing wax."
A peck of tomatoes is about 16 pounds. The first time I made a full batch and it took two days and every pot I had in the house. I made half that for this batch. Seasonings are highly variable and I like mine on the spicy side; the only measures I keep are for the vinegar, salt and port wine, as I think they may have preservative properties.

New Old-Time Tomato Ketchup
Makes 3 - 6 pints depending on how thick you like it

8 lbs tomatoes
3 lbs yellow onions
2 c water
2c vinegar
1 c port wine (I use ruby; not sure if it matters)
1T ground cloves
1T ground allspice
.3 oz mace (about 5t)
2 grated nutmegs
1T ground black pepper
1t cayenne
1/4 c salt

Slice the onions and tomatoes, add the water, and bring to a slow boil in a large pot. (The first picture in the post shows the tomatoes and onions and illustrates why you don't want to do a full batch unless you're sure you can handle it!) Boil until very well cooked, 1 - 2 hours. Cool slightly and transfer to another large bowl or pot.
This picture shows the tomatoes and onions after they have boiled.

Using an immersion blender, or blending in batches in a food processor, blend the result to break up the stringy bits.Pass the pulp through a Foley food mill (here is Phil taking his turn at the crank) and back into the large stock pot. Once you are done, you should have about 3 - 4 cups of solids left over. Save these for (Ketchup Scrap Casserole).

Add the vinegar, sugar salt and spices. The picture above shows the ketchup after it's been through the food mill and the spices have been added. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and reduce until it reaches desired consistency. It will not thicken much more in the jars. This is highly variable based on what you like.

I like my ketchup on the "saucy" side, so I made a little more than a 1/2 reduction from where I started. It took a little more than 2 hours to sufficiently reduce.

Meanwhile, bring a dozen half-pint mason jars and their lids to a boil in a canning jar. This should be more than you need even if you like your ketchup as thin as I do, but it's much better than not having enough! Boil 10 minutes then turn heat down. Keep off the boil but hot.When ready, remove the jars and lids and ladle the ketchup into the jars, leaving 1/4" of headspace. Position the lids and screw down the bands finger tight. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath.

(Now the hardest part) Wait at least 2 weeks before using. This is important. If you taste the ketchup just after you made it, it will be impossibly salty. But after a couple of weeks the spices seem to meld and the saltiness is not so overpowering.