Organic Ketchup

[viscousmemories]

I don't know if I just never noticed ketchup before or what, but ever since I bought my first bottle of Heinz organic ketchup last year, I am pleasantly surprised by the taste every time I use it. For that matter the Muir Glen organic ketchup is just as good.

[Beth]

Mmmm...organic ketchup, on French toast made with free range eggs/ :drool:

[RevDahlia]

You need to read Jeffrey Steingarten's book The Man who Ate Everything. It contains an essay about ketchup -- the history of, urban legends about, and so forth. (Did you know that ketchup is a non-Newtonian fluid? Now you do.) Mr. Steingarten and his wife taste-tested many, many kinds of ketchup (they were deemed Better Than Heinz, Heinz, or Worse Than Heinz), and there's a right good recipe for homemade ketchup as well.

We accidentally brought a ginormous bottle of horrible generic ketchup back from Burning Man last year. I'm too cheap to throw it out so we're soldiering on, even though the stuff tastes like pure corn syrup with some sad tomato shreds embedded in it. I can't wait until it's gone. Then I will buy Heinz, like a sensible person.

[viscousmemories]

It always amuses me when someone reccommends a book to me - as if I can read and post on forums 15 hours a day and read books. :D

That sounds cool though. I did not know that ketchup was a non-Newtonian fluid and the thought of making it at home honestly never occurred to me. Now I'm curious.

[Legs]

Since we are talking about Ketchup, whats up with the spelling catsup? :chin:

[Legs]

Home Made Ketchup (not my home, though)

4 medium onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon whole allspice, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon celery seed
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
Hot sauce, to taste
Salt, to taste

In a heavy kettle cook onions, garlic, and tomatoes, covered, over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are very soft, about 40 minutes. Force mixture through a food mill fitted with coarse disk into a bowl. In a cleaned kettle stir together puree, sugar, and vinegar, and simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently to prevent scorching, until reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Tie cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and celery seed in a cheesecloth bag and add to tomato mixture with mustard and paprika. Simmer mixture, stirring until very thick, about 10 minutes. Discard bag and season mixture with hot sauce and salt. Ketchup may be made 10 days ahead and chilled, covered.

[viscousmemories]

Thanks, Legs!

If I had a heavy kettle, food mill, cheesecloth bag and money to buy the 4 spices there I don't have, I might just try that. :D

[livius drusus]

Since we are talking about Ketchup, whats up with the spelling catsup?

I don't know, but it's weird, particularly if pronounced how it's written. :shudder:

[Beth]

WORD HISTORY The word ketchup exemplifies the types of modifications that can take place in borrowing—both of words and substances. The source of our word ketchup may be the Malay word kēchap, possibly taken into Malay from the Cantonese dialect of Chinese. Kēchap, like ketchup, was a sauce, but one without tomatoes; rather, it contained fish brine, herbs, and spices. Sailors seem to have brought the sauce to Europe, where it was made with locally available ingredients such as the juice of mushrooms or walnuts. At some unknown point, when the juice of tomatoes was first used, ketchup as we know it was born. But it is important to realize that in the 18th and 19th centuries ketchup was a generic term for sauces whose only common ingredient was vinegar. The word is first recorded in English in 1690 in the form catchup, in 1711 in the form ketchup, and in 1730 in the form catsup. All three spelling variants of this foreign borrowing remain current.
http://www.answers.com/topic/ketchup

[viscousmemories]

That's really interesting, but where does 'catchup' remain current? :chin:

[Beth]

That's really interesting, but where does 'catchup' remain current? :chin:
Catsup was used in my Archie Comics, so I often use that variation of the word. It is a valid variation and sometimes it just comes out. :)

[viscousmemories]

Yah I've seen ketchup and catsup used all over, just never catchup.

[Beth]

Yah I've seen ketchup and catsup used all over, just never catchup.I was taught to use that word in school. I always got confused about the whole ketchup/catsup/catchup thing. I honestly did not know how to use the word till I was a few grades higher and I asked a teacher and she explained to use the common "ketchup", if I want to use a less archaic variation.

[Beth]

Anyway, I think it's cool you posted this thread Tom, we eat a lot of ketchup, well, just because (I swear ketchup is fantastic on unsweetened French toast that has been fried in butter, at least to me), and I was always leary of buying the generic healthfood type. I like knowing to look for Heinz organic, if the store doesn't sell it, I'll make a request.

[viscousmemories]

Anyway, I think it's cool you posted this thread Tom, we eat a lot of ketchup, well, just because (I swear ketchup is fantastic on unsweetened French toast that has been fried in butter, at least to me), and I was always leary of buying the generic healthfood type. I like knowing to look for Heinz organic, if the store doesn't sell it, I'll make a request.
Cool. If you can find it I hope you like it. :)

[Dingfod]

Since we are talking about Ketchup, whats up with the spelling catsup? :chin:The first one is good on freedom fries and the second is when you call the fire department. Why call the fire department? Because the catsup in a tree and won't come down.

[Penni]

I like organic kethcup. Haven't seen heinz brand, I just buy mine at Trader Joe's. It doesn't taste a bit different to me. I just wish we could buy it in really big bottles, it only comes in normal size at TJ's.

[Godwhacker]

Katsup is one of my favorite substances. When I was a kid, I would put it on everything (and often, still do). Ironically, I now work a mere stones throw from where Heinz's original grove of tomato fields started the whole thing going. Interestingly, however, although Heinz is still based here in the 'Burgh, they don't make Katsup here no more :(

I'll have to try the organic variety.


"I mean NOBODY puts ketchup on a hot dog." -Dirty Harry