ketchup

Deconstructing Ketchup

With summer right around the corner my mind has begun to anticipate all the delicious summer foods that I love…. BBQ ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers and french fries. Hey, good decisions most of the time, right? One thing for sure is that I can’t have most of my favorite BBQ foods without ketchup. I’ve wanted to create a homemade ketchup recipe that would knock my socks off and perhaps even blow away my competitor Heinz®! Now this was not an easy task considering Mr. Heinz began at the young age of 12, but I was willing to give it a whole-hearted try.
Today’s commercial ketchup brands typically contain high fructose corn syrup and “natural flavorings” that are anything but natural. I don’t know about you, but I like real food, food that has not been refined, processed and turned into something that barely resembles what it started as. I have a feeling Mr. Heinz probably felt the same way when he started out.
I’ve tried a couple of homemade ketchup recipes in the past that did not pass the test so I decided to go straight to the source. I bought a bottle of Heinz® ketchup and began the process of deconstructing this condiment!
I used tomato paste instead of tomato concentrate, and since I did not want my homemade ketchup to contain high fructose corn syrup, I tried to substitute grade B maple syrup. Unfortunately this did not work all that well. I thought back on what Mr. Heinz might have had available to him when he created his recipe in 1876. I decided to use honey and it was absolutely delicious! And might I add, pretty darn close to what commercial ketchup tastes like, without the high fructose corn syrup and not so natural flavorings.
I think Mr. Heinz would be proud!
Check out my official recipe here!