Recipe: how to make homemade ketchup without vinegar
With tomato season in full swing, a homemade ketchup recipe without vinegar has been shared, suitable for either fridge storage or sterilized jars for longer keeping. It relies on fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic and natural seasonings.
As the tomato harvest peaks, many look for ways to preserve the surplus, and one option is making ketchup at home. Unlike store-bought versions, this recipe skips vinegar entirely — the tartness and thickness come from the tomatoes themselves and prolonged simmering.
Ingredients
The recipe calls for about two kilograms of ripe tomatoes, two medium-to-large onions, four large garlic cloves, sugar, tomato paste, dried basil, and optionally Worcestershire sauce. Salt is added to taste.
Preparation
Tomatoes are first peeled: a cross is cut at the top of each, they are dipped in boiling water for about thirty seconds, then plunged into cold water, which loosens the skin for easy removal. Once peeled, the tomatoes are cut into pieces and cored.
Chopped onions are fried in oil until translucent, then garlic and dried basil are added and cooked briefly. Salt and sugar follow, then the tomato pieces, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce are stirred in. The mixture is brought to a boil, after which the heat is lowered and it simmers until reduced by about half — the longer it cooks, the thicker the sauce becomes.
Finally, the remaining oil is stirred in and the sauce briefly reheated before jarring. For a smoother texture, it can be blended before filling the jars. If intended for long-term storage, jars should be sterilized and sealed airtight; otherwise the ketchup can simply be kept in the refrigerator.
The article also mentions an alternative method, in which blanched tomatoes are ground in a meat grinder and cooked with blended onion, garlic and sugar; in this version, however, a small amount of vinegar is added before a final fifteen minutes of cooking and sealing into sterile jars.
