Homemade Tomato Ketchup

A tomato glut is something I never had, but when a friend posted on Facebook that she had too many beef tomatoes so the idea of trying to make ketchup came to mind. There are loads of recipes on the web, but this is the one from www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk was the one I settled on, partly because it coincided with the weight of tomatoes I was given.

Ingredients
2kg tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
150ml red wine vinegar
100ml water
½ tsp black peppercorns
1 blade mace (I didn’t have any so I used 1/4tsp ground nutmeg instead)
4 allspice berries (Didn’t use any as ones I thought I had were juniper!)a
2 cloves
½ tsp crushed dried chillies (used only 1/4tsp as our chilli flakes are really hot, then saw the note about omitting this if making for children!)
2 bay leaves (forgot to add them!)
1 tbsp light brown sugar

Put tomatoes, garlic, 50ml of the vinegar and the water into a large saucepan and simmer gently for 40 minutes until the vegetables are soft and pulpy.

Whilst the tomatoes are cooking, put the rest of the vinegar into a little saucepan together with the  all the other ingredients apart from the sugar.  Simmer over a low heat for 10 minutes then turn off and leave to one side.

After 40 minutes, puree the tomato pulp with a stick blender then strain and rub the pulp through a sieve into a clean pan.  Make sure you get as much of the tomato pulp through the seive as possible, only leaving the seeds and skins behind.

Strain the vinegar and spices into the pan with the sieved tomato.  Add the sugar and simmer over a medium heat until thickened and reduced to a thick consistency, about 500ml.

Remove from the heat and season to taste. Pour the ketchup into a jug and use a funnel to transfer it into sterilised bottles or jars. Seal immediately and cool completely before labelling and storing.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry
Instagram: sunhillmakesbakes

Tomato Chutney

A chance discovery of some 600g punnets of tomatoes reduced to 50p a punnet in my local Co-op and I am now the proud owner of some tomato chutney for the first time ever.

My base recipe came from the BBC Good Food website.  It says use ripe tomatoes but I don’t see why you couldn’t use green ones if you have loads.

1kg ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped

750g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped

375g light muscovado sugar (I just used white granulated)

250g onions, chopped

250g raisins

1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped (I didn’t use any as I don’t like it in chutney)

2 tsp salt

½ tsp ground ginger

350ml cider vinegar (I used pickling vinegar)

Place all the ingredients into a large heavy based saucepan.  Bring to the boil and boil gently for 45-50 minutes until the vegetables are soft and the chutney has thickened.  Seal into sterilised jars.  This doesn’t say how long to leave it to mature before using but most chutneys are 2-3 months to let the harshness of the vinegar mellow.

I dutifully followed the recipe and peeled and chopped the tomatoes and apples.  Next time, however, I think I’ll just core the apple and place the tomatoes, apples, and onions in the food processor.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry
Instagram: sunhillmakesbakes

Spiced Plum Jam

Joining a Facebook conversation about the amount of fruit falling unused on the pavements around our town, I ended up with 5lbs of free plums on my doorstep last week. I made Spiced Plum Chutney with half, and was so taken with the flavour I decided to make a sweet spiced jam with the other half.
tesco.com has a very simple recipe and the jam has a lovely autumny/wintery spice taste to it.

900g stoned and chopped plums
900g granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp butter (to clarify)

Place a saucer in the freezer.

Put the stoned and chopped plums in a wide stainless steel pan or preserving pan with 150ml water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the fruit is soft.  As I had frozen my plums, they were soft enough to skip this step.

Wash and sterilise your jars and lids as soon as the jam goes on.  I reuse the ‘pop up’ style lids as these help seal the jam and allow you to keep it in a dark place for 1+ years. Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse well and drain.  Place the jars in a cold oven, let it heat up to 140C and then leave for 10 minutes at this heat or until your ready to pot up.  Place the lids in a pan with boiling water and boil for 10 minutes to sterilise.

Add the sugar and stir over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved.  Stir in the cinnamon and ginger and bring to a rolling boil.  Boil rapidly for 10 minutes without stirring.  With a spoon, pour a little onto the chilled saucer.  After a few seconds push the jam with your finger.  If it wrinkles, it is ready.  If not, return to the boil for another 5 minutes and test again, stirring from time to time.  It took about 20 minutes when I made this jam this afternoon, and I did have to stir it to stop it catching on the bottom of the pan especially towards the end of cooking.

When ready remove from the heat.  Stir in the butter which should make any scum ‘vanish’.  Take your jars out of the oven and fill right to the brim.  Seal immediately with your sterilised lids and leave to cool.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry