Peter's Tomato Ketchup

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1 ½ kg tomatoes, pureed
• 2 m.-large apples, sweet
• 4 m.-large onion(s), white
• 2 tbsp tomato paste, triple concentrated
• 50 ml apple cider vinegar
• 20 g cane sugar or household sugar
• 15 g salt
• ½ tsp black pepper, ground
• ¼ tsp clove powder
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp potato starch

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours

simple, fruity, tomatoey and low in sugar

Peel and chop the onions. Peel, quarter, and core the apples. Place the onions, apples, passata, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, cloves, and bay leaves in a large saucepan and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Allow the steam to escape to thicken the ketchup. Caution! Danger of burns! Boiling ketchup can suddenly splash when stirred! In the meantime, place the ketchup jars (e.g., jam jars) in a pot of boiling water and boil for at least 10 minutes. After 1 hour, remove the bay leaves and puree the ketchup with a hand blender. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix potato starch with a little cold water and thicken the ketchup with the starch. Bring the ketchup back to the boil for 1 minute and then pour into the sterile jars. Screw on the lids and let the jars cool upside down to create a vacuum. Important information and tips: If you want to taste the ketchup before thickening, please make sure that the sample has cooled on a plate first, as ketchup is usually eaten cold and hot ketchup tastes different than cold ketchup. If you want to fill bottles with ketchup, you should not thicken it with potato starch, as it may be too thick to fill with a funnel. Before filling the jars or bottles for tomato ketchup, you should sterilize them in a pot of boiling water to prevent the ketchup from spoiling. If you want the ketchup to keep for a particularly long time, after filling the jars with the ketchup, place the jars in a casserole dish with hot water (cap facing up). The hot water should be roughly the same temperature as the hot ketchup to prevent the jars from bursting. Heat the jars/bottles in the oven at 180°C until bubbles visibly rise in the ketchup. As soon as the ketchup starts to boil, reduce the temperature to 130°C and simmer the ketchup for 20 to 30 minutes. Then let the jars cool slowly in the oven to prevent them from bursting. My tip for relaxed cooking: The best way to prepare the tomato ketchup is in a food processor with a cooking function, e.g. Thermomix or similar. When cooking the tomato ketchup, place the simmering basket (sieve) on the lid of the food processor so that the steam can escape without the boiling ketchup splashing all over the kitchen. Another advantage is that the ketchup is constantly stirring in the food processor while it is cooking, so it cannot burn. You can also puree the ketchup in the food processor.