Homemade Sweet Catchup

Homemade catchup without the high fructose corn syrup is definitely worth the extra work. Althought making homemade catchup from tomatoes can be a bit time consuming, the process is quite easy. Since most of the recipes I found involved extremely large volumes of tomatoes for making and canning catchup, I decided on my own ration and ingredients. 

• Approximately 3 quarts of fresh tomatoes (peeled, seeded and squeezed will make 1 quart)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 small onion (chopped)
• 1/4 yellow, orange or red pepper (chopped)
• 1 small clove of garlic (chopped)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp celery salt
• 1/4 cup vinegar 

 
To remove tomato peels: Bring tomatoes to a boil for one minute and then plunge in an ice cold water bath. Tomato peels will fall off.

Quartering and Seeding tomatoes: Cut tomatoes in quarters and remove seeds with your fingers. Squeeze tomatoes and place them in a strainer so more water will drip off. Reserve all that is strained and removed from the tomatoes and then strain in a cheese cloth for fresh tomato juice.

1. Add squeezed tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, & celery salt to a pot and simmer over medium to medium high heat until tomatoes are soft.
2. Run mixture through a sieve or food mill to remove remaining seeds and peels.
3. Place the resulting liquid in a pot, add the vinegar and return the liquid to a simmer.  Continue to cook until the liquid thickens into the consistency of catchup.

Note: this recipe will make about 1 cup of catchup and can be refrigerated up to 3 or 5 days.

Return to Homemade Condiments Page

For larger batches and photos of the process, refer to the following recipes:

Mom's ripe tomato Catsup
Homemade Catchup Recipe