How do I love ketchup? Let me count the ways!
Ketchup and I spent a long time away from each other because sugar tore us apart. I was willing to forgo my sweet tomatoey friend to save myself from sugar induced inflammation–not just the kind you read about and understand intellectually, but the kind you feel, and that ruins days of your life while you recover.
Sugar (cane, beet, and, unfortunately even coconut) give me headaches, brain fog, bloating, and, yes, constipation (there, I said it). It also causes aches and pains all over my body that feel across between a car wreck (which I have experienced) and arthritis (which I can only imagine, but I think it must be close).
It’s a double edge sword. In some ways it’s a bummer to be so darned symptomatic with something so ubiquitous. I also, know that sugar causes inflammation in every single human, and most people don’t realize that their symptoms are diet related. Strong symptoms got me off sugar real fast and my overall health got WAY better for it. It was a life changer for sure!
I finally realized that it couldn’t be so hard to make my own delicious ketchup with just stevia as the sweetener, since my favorite tomato paste (Bionaturae brand) is already so naturally sweet. So, I started winging various versions by feel, never measuring or writing anything down, until enough clients asked for a recipe.
I decided to modify this one by none other than Katie, the Wellness Mama herself: http://wellnessmama.com/4999/homemade-ketchup/. I took out the sugars and played with a couple other things to approximate the way I had been used to making it. I am super grateful to her for the basic measurments, since I’m more of a cook by feel person.
The greatest impetus for a ketchup recipe came from the need to solidify something for my meatloaf dish. This ketchup really makes it. It’s also awesome for any other ketchup need, like burgers (collard wrap or paleo seed bread instead of the bun?), sausages, any kind of fries, or fried chicken (with gluten free breading in coconut oil, of course).
Kids like it, too and sugar is definitely not an ideal food for developing digestive, immune and nervous systems (basically all the same thing). The trick is to let it sit after you make it, even a couple hours, but especially a day later — then it really tastes superb. Don’t get me wrong. It’s still delicious right when you make it. Letting flavors meld just makes it even better!
Homemade No Sugar Ketchup
Ingredients
- 3 jars or BPA free cans of Tomato Paste (Bionature brand preferred-glass container, organic and superb flavor)
- ½ cup raw apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 generous pinches allspice
- 1 pinch of clove
- Optional: pinch of cayenne Or
- Optional: pinch of white pepper
- About ¼-1/2 teaspoons pure stevia liquid (Please start with ¼ teaspoon and taste as you go–there's so much variation in sweetness and bitterness from brand to brand. Also, read the label–there's so much junk some companies add to stevia products. We find that ¼ teaspoon Sweet Leaf brand stevia does the trick.)
- 1 teaspoon high mineral sea salt
- Water (start with ½ cup and add a little at a time until desired thickness; you may use as much as a cup if your brand of tomato paste is uber pasty)
Instructions
- Put the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend well. Adjust seasoning to taste. Keep in mind that the full flavor will not be reached immediately. Put ketchup in fridge to let flavors meld overnight, or at least for two hours.
- Optional: This is more work, but tastes great. You can slowly simmer your ketchup to mellow out the vinegar and stevia as well as merge the spices. It also tastes sweeter and more like bottled ketchup this way. Taste it after about 15-20 minutes to see if mellowing and merging has indeed occurred.
- Cool and store in a glass container. If you are making ketchup for our meatloaf recipe, no need to simmer, as you will get this effect when it bakes in the oven.
Excellent …great insights and recipe….
Thanks for sharing
Thanks, Sun! ☀️??
I made this tonight….excellent, thank you!
Yay! That’s so good to hear! Thanks! 🙂
I have a mental block against eating tomatoes, so never do. But, love all of the paste stuff created by tomatoes, so will see if I can get my better half to make some. I personally have trouble even boiling water.
Hi Traci! How long will this ketchup keep in the refrigerator? With many mouths to feed it would be great to double the recipe – but only if it keeps. Thanks for sharing it!
Hey there! So great to hear from you. It feels like forever since you guys left Hawaii. I’m so curious how you’ve been. As for the ketchup, I make double batches for just me and it lasts a pretty darn long time- weeks, but not months. The vinegar, salt and spices seem to preserve it quite well. I hope you and your family enjoy it. Big hugs to you all! Aloha.