Ketchup is a popular tomato-based seasoning that is served with both hot and cold meat and fish dishes, and is added to pasta. Many types and varieties of ketchup are sold in stores, but vinegar is added in large quantities, which is a good preservative and guarantees a long shelf life of the product. This concentration of vinegar often impairs the taste of ketchup and its health benefits. But you can make your own ketchup at home using recipes that don't have vinegar at all.
Ketchup ingredients and substitutes for vinegar
Ketchup is a tomato sauce with vinegar, sugar, salt and other spices. This is a traditional North American spice and the recipes used to make these sauces industrially include vinegar as a must. In addition to serving as a preservative, it also gives the sauce a piquant sourness and pungency.
For a vinegar-free ketchup that's just as delicious and much healthier, try adding acid and spice with other ingredients, like fresh lemon juice or sour plums.
Ketchup with lemon juice
You will need:
- 2 kg of ripe tomatoes;
- ½ cup granulated sugar;
- 1 tbsp. salt;
- 1 onion;
- 4-5 cloves of garlic;
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice;
- 15 peas of black pepper;
- 20 peas of allspice;
- 20 pcs. carnations;
- ½ tsp coriander beans;
- ½ tsp dry mustard powder.
Keep the tomatoes in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, peel them off and grind with a blender. Pour into a deep skillet, bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat, stirring constantly. When the volume of the tomatoes is reduced by a third and the paste thickens, add finely chopped onion and garlic to it. Continue to boil the paste until half of the original volume is left. Add salt, sugar, lemon juice to it. Put the spices in a linen bag or wrap in a cloth and tie it. Dip the spices in the pasta for 10 minutes, then remove and remove the pasta from the stove. If desired, you can puree the sauce again using the hand blender. Pour the sauce into small jars and refrigerate. If you want to prepare such ketchup for the winter, the jars and lids for them need to be sterilized.
Chopped ginger root will add the necessary sharpness to ketchup cooked without vinegar; it will take about 1 cm for these proportions.
Ketchup with plums
You will need:
- 2 kg of ripe tomatoes;
- 1 kg of sweet and sour plums;
- ½ cup granulated sugar;
- 1 tbsp. salt;
- 500 g onions;
- 1 head of garlic;
- 15 peas of black pepper;
- 1 pod of hot red pepper.
Taste the ketchup as you add granulated sugar and salt to adjust the flavor to your liking.
Make the tomato puree as in the previous recipe. When it is 1/3 boiled down, add onion and red hot pepper, ground in a blender or through a meat grinder. Wash the plums, cut in half, remove the seeds, pass through a meat grinder and boil in a separate bowl, and then transfer the plum puree to the tomato. Add chopped garlic, black pepper, salt and sugar. Continue cooking the sauce until the volume has decreased by another 1/3. Then pour hot into jars, let cool and put in the refrigerator.
