Tomato Ketchup c.1900

Donnie

Source: Handwritten Wisconsin family cookbook archives, 1900 to 1920. University of Iowa Szathmary Culinary Arts Collection

Original instruction: Tomato juice strained through a sifter. Combine with sugar, salt, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne and vinegar. Boil three hours or until thick.

Makes: approximately 1 cup

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 3

Ingredients

2 lbs Roma tomatoes roughly chopped. Roma tomatoes are the correct choice for this recipe due to their lower water content and meatier flesh, which produces a thicker ketchup in less reduction time than beefsteak or vine varieties
5 tbsp white sugar
6 tbsp distilled white vinegar
Heaping ¼ tsp black pepper
Heaping ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
⅛ tsp ground cloves
Tiny pinch of cayenne
¾ tsp fine salt then more to taste at the end

Instructions

Cook and strain the tomatoes

Place the roughly chopped Roma tomatoes in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes until the tomatoes have completely collapsed and are soft throughout. Pass the cooked tomatoes through a fine mesh strainer or food mill, pushing firmly to extract as much tomato liquid as possible. Discard the skins and seeds. The resulting tomato juice is your ketchup base. This is the straining through a sifter that the original instruction describes.

Add the seasonings and reduce

Return the strained tomato liquid to a clean saucepan. Add the sugar, vinegar, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne and salt. Stir to combine. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, then reduce to a low simmer.

Cook uncovered for approximately 3 hours, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes to prevent sticking on the bottom of the pan. The ketchup is ready when it has reduced to a thick, spoonable consistency that coats the back of a spoon and holds a clean line when you drag a finger through it. It will thicken slightly more as it cools.

If after 3 hours the ketchup is still thinner than you want, increase the heat slightly and continue reducing with more frequent stirring until the correct consistency is reached. 1 tsp of cornstarch can also be used to help thicken.

Taste and adjust

Remove from the heat. Taste carefully. Adjust salt, vinegar and sugar to your preference. The ketchup should be balanced between sweet, sour and savoury, with the cinnamon and clove warmth sitting underneath rather than dominating. A small additional splash of vinegar sharpens it if it seems too sweet. A pinch more sugar rounds it if it seems too sharp.

Store

Transfer to a clean jar and refrigerate. The ketchup keeps refrigerated for 3 to 4 weeks. Due to its higher sugar content and vinegar concentration, it is shelf stable for several weeks, consistent with the preservation logic of the original recipe.

Notes

The three-hour reduction is not optional for the correct consistency. Ketchup that has not fully reduced is thin, watery, and lacks the concentrated tomato flavour that makes the finished product worthwhile. Low and slow with regular stirring is the method.

The cinnamon and cloves are the flavour details that most distinguish this 1900 recipe from modern commercial ketchup and they are worth keeping rather than reducing. They are historically accurate to the period and they produce a noticeably more complex flavour than plain tomato vinegar ketchup. If you want something closer to modern Heinz, reduce the cinnamon to ⅛ tsp and omit the cloves entirely.

Roma tomatoes specifically produce the best result for home ketchup because their flesh-to-liquid ratio is higher than other varieties. Beefsteak or vine tomatoes work but require a longer reduction time to reach the same consistency. Out of season or pale hothouse tomatoes will produce a noticeably inferior result. Make this in late summer when Roma tomatoes are at peak season and you will get a significantly better ketchup than at any other time of year.