Ketchup can be safely called one of the most popular sauces in cooking. The versatility of ketchup allows you to combine it with almost any dish, and the taste of the product ranges from tender and mild to spicy and rich. Ready-made ketchups often contain additives such as stabilizers, preservatives, flavorings, and flavor enhancers. To avoid health problems, it is best to cook tomato ketchup yourself.
Homemade tomato ketchup: cooking rules
For ketchup, you need the simplest ingredients - tomatoes, sugar, spices to taste and vinegar.
Tomatoes for homemade ketchup should be ripe, but not overripe. If possible, you need to find tomatoes grown at home - in the garden or in the country, as this guarantees the absence of chemical baits.
Ideal tomato ketchup should be thick. On a production scale, starch is used; at home, the desired density is best achieved by evaporation. This process will take at least 2 hours, but the result will exceed all expectations. To evaporate, the tomato mixture must be brought to a boil, then the heat must be reduced to a minimum and the ketchup must be cooked to the desired consistency.
Another advantageous difference between homemade ketchup and ready-made ketchup is natural preservatives. Store ketchups mainly contain sodium benzoate, which works to inhibit mold and yeast. At home, vinegar is used to make ketchup. Natural preservatives include cinnamon, cloves, mustard, raisins and cranberries, so they can also be found in homemade ketchup.
In order for ketchup to be stored as long as possible after cooking, it must be poured into sterilized jars with sealed lids.
