Homemade Tomato Ketchup with Ripe Tomatoes

Ingredients

• For a ketchup or jam with a lovely color, red and well-ripened tomatoes are best.
• You can leave out the cloves and bay leaves if you don't have them.
• If you don't have lemon juice, feel free to skip it.

Steps

1. Use 3 medium-sized ripe tomatoes.

   For a ketchup or jam with a lovely color, red and well-ripened tomatoes are best.

   I prepared 1/4 onion, along with cloves and bay leaves for aroma.

   (These ingredients are also used when making pickles.) You can leave out the cloves and bay leaves if you don't have them.

2. Cut a cross on top of each tomato with a knife, then blanch briefly in boiling water.

   This is just to loosen the skins, so take them out as soon as the skin starts to peel back.

3. Roughly chop the peeled tomatoes and onion.

4. Add the tomatoes, onion, bay leaves, and cloves all together into a pan and bring to a boil.

   A lot of liquid will come out of the tomatoes.

5. Once the onion is cooked through, remove the bay leaves...

6. Transfer the simmered onion and tomatoes to a blender and puree them.

7. Pass through a sieve to collect only the smooth puree.

8. Pour back into the pan, and once it comes to a boil, simmer over low heat while stirring.

9. When it has reduced by about half, add the corn syrup (mulyeot), sugar, vinegar, and salt to adjust the seasoning.

   (Adjust to your taste.)

   To get a flavor like commercial ketchup, quite a bit of sugar and salt goes in.

10. Once most of the moisture has evaporated and the texture turns thick, similar to the consistency of ketchup, it is done.

    At step 9, you can also add a little starch water to adjust the thickness.

11. Just like the ketchup, prepare well-ripened tomatoes.

    Mine were smaller, so I used 4 for the same total weight. One medium tomato weighs around 200g.

    Place them in boiling water, peel the skins, puree in a blender, and strain through a sieve once.

12. Add the tomato juice and sugar to a pot and bring to a boil.

    The ratio of fruit to sugar is about 2:1, but you can adjust the amount of sugar to your taste or depending on how sweet and juicy your fruit is.

13. Once it begins to boil, simmer gently over low heat.

    Skim off any foam that rises as you simmer for over 20 minutes...

14. As most of the moisture evaporates, it will bubble up like a small crater.

    Add the lemon juice and simmer a bit more, and it is finished. If you don't have lemon juice, feel free to skip it.

    You should stop while the texture still seems slightly runny; if you boil it until very thick, it will set hard as a rock once it cools.

    (To test the jam, drop a drop or two into cold water; it is ready if it doesn't spread out.)

Ppunwife's tips

• You should stop while the texture still seems slightly runny; if you boil it until very thick, it will set hard as a rock once it cools.
• To test the jam, drop a drop or two into cold water; it is ready if it doesn't spread out.
• At step 9, you can also add a little starch water to adjust the thickness.

FAQ

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