Ketchup

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INGREDIENTS

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3 garlic cloves

1 small onion

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 teaspoons tomato paste

1 28 ounce-can peeled tomatoes, whole or diced

5 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons white vinegar

¼ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon salt

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SPECIAL UTENSILS

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food processor or electric blender

4-cup Mason jar

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Makes 3 cups. Takes 30 minutes

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PREPARATION

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Mince garlic and onion. Add onion and olive oil to large pot or Dutch oven. Sauté for 5 minutes at medium-high heat. Stir frequently. Add garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes at medium-high heat. Stir frequently. Add tomato paste. Cook for 2 minutes at medium heat or until it turns to burnt orange.

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Add remaining ingredients. Cook at medium-high heat until it starts to boil. Stir frequently enough to prevent burning. Reduce heat to low. Simmer for 40 minutes it thickens.. Stir enough to prevent burning.

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Transfer liquid from pot to food processor or electric blender. Puree liquid until it reaches your desired thickness. Let cool to room temperature. Add ketchup to Mason jar. Should keep in refrigerator for up to 1 month.

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TIDBITS

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1) According to Quite Possibly True Almanac, 2019:

The largest outdoor skating rink made from frozen ketchup is in Pois, Quebec.

Michaelangelo used ketchup instead of red pigment when painting his masterpieces.

The largest ketchup lake formed in Pumice, Kentucky when a tidal wave of hot ketchup from a bottling factory filled an abandoned strip mine.

­In 2013, NASA quietly sent out a cylinder filled with 21,200 tons of ketchup as a goodwill gesture to any civilizations existing outside our Solar System, because who doesn’t like ketchup?

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– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.