Homemade Balsamic Ketchup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it worth making homemade ketchup? ›

I make my own, because it provides more control of ingredients. Yes, it's well worth it! I use tomato paste mixed with vinegar, lemon juice, cajun seasoning, garlic powder and maple syrup. It's simple and much better than anything you can buy.

Ingredients: TOMATO CONCENTRATE FROM RED RIPE TOMATOES, DISTILLED VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SALT, SPICE, ONION POWDER, NATURAL FLAVORING.

But if you want a thicker texture, whisk two tablespoons of cornstarch into 1/4 cup of cold water. Once the ketchup has been run through the sieve twice, return the ketchup to the stove and bring to a low simmer. Slowly whisk the cornstarch mixture into the ketchup until you have the consistency you want.

The viscosity of ketchup comes from the water retention of the fibrous strands in the tomato paste and the gelling effect of the pectin, which is released through high-pressure hom*ogenization. Ketchups with lower solids content may incorporate starch-based thickeners or gums to achieve their desired consistency.

As someone that has made my own ketchup and tomato sauces at home, I challenge the “cheap” part of that. I've always found it more expensive to make my own, not less. That doesn't mean it's not worth it to buy the ingredients I need (if I could grow them myself, that might make a big difference in cost, but I can't).

Pack and Store Your Homemade Ketchup

Ladle your ketchup directly into sterilized jars and store in fridge or freezer. Ketchup will keep 3 weeks in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer.

In particular, McDonald's ketchup isn't a commercially-available brand like Heinz or Hunt's, it's their own proprietary blend -- and that makes all the difference. You might think this means they add something unique to the mix, but you'd be wrong.

Heinz's lucky number. According to the company's website, in 1896, the founder was inspired by an advertisem*nt he saw for “21 styles of shoes.” He considered 57 to be magical and lucky, so he came up with the slogan “57 Varieties” despite the fact the company offered more than 60 products at the time.

The tangy-sweet sauce contains vinegar, onions, garlic, some kind of sweetener, and seasonings like mustard powder, cumin, allspice and cinnamon. However, if you were to make a batch at home with those ingredients, your ketchup still probably wouldn't taste like the stuff you get at the diner.

Because it's a colloid(a suspension of solids in a liquid), but not a stable colloid(there aren't enough forces keeping the solids suspended). The water simply unbinds from the naturally present oils inherent in the paste and tomato products.

How do you make homemade ketchup smooth? ›

Use an immersion blender for about 20 seconds to smooth the texture of the ketchup. Ladle ketchup into a fine strainer and press mixture with the back of a ladle to strain out any skins and seeds. Transfer strained ketchup to a bowl. Cool completely.

Some ketchup in the U.S. is labeled "Fancy". This is a USDA grade, relating to specific gravity. Fancy ketchup has a higher tomato solid concentration than other USDA grades.

Ketchup stabilizers are composed of various ingredients, including natural gums, starches, and pectins. These materials are selected for their ability to withstand the acidic environment of ketchup while providing the necessary textural properties.

Vinegar acts as a preservative. So its been added to pickles, ketchup, chutneys and others to keep the food from being spoiled. Basically Vinegar consists of a very mild acid, acetic acid (CH3COOH), water and trace amounts of other chemicals, which may include flavorings.

Tomato ketchup includes histamine, which can lead to a number of allergies in the body if consumed frequently. Depending on how much is consumed, it can also make a person throw up and have diarrhea. Salmonella exposure can induce diarrhea when tomatoes are consumed raw.

It contains high quantities of sugar, salt, fructose, preservatives and corn syrup. All of these ingredients when combined together have an adverse effect on the body. Here are some of the reasons why you must avoid this delicious condiment.

The global Tomato Ketchup market size was valued at USD 23297.98 million in 2022 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.06% during the forecast period, reaching USD 27912.02 million by 2028.

When you buy organic, you're not only avoiding all of those chemicals, you're getting more nutritional bang for your buck. A study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that organic ketchup contains higher levels of antioxidants than its conventional counterpart.