Homemade Spiced Ketchup

We picked about 12 pounds of Amish Paste Tomatoes from the garden today and decided to make some homemade ketchup.
We don’t eat ketchup a whole lot, but we do love it on baked potato fries, baked sweet potato fries, and hamburgers. I also use it to make meatloaf and as a base for my homemade barbeque sauce.
The stuff in the store, even the organic brands, are loaded with sugar. One 14-oz bottle  contains about 68 grams of highly refined white sugar, or a whopping 17 teaspoons (or 5.66 tablespoons) !
That equates to 1 teaspoon of sugar per tablespoon of ketchup.
While our version does contain added sweeteners, it uses unrefined, low-glycemic coconut sugar and raw honey, and cuts the amount of sugar by 2/3. You could also possibly use Stevia since the sweetener is strictly for taste., but we have not tried it ourselves.

If you are new to canning, you may want to check out this Getting Started guide by Ball or this Canning 101 site by the University of Minnesota extension office.

Homemade Spiced Ketchup

Yield: 7-9 half-pints

Ingredients

• 12 pounds of tomatoes (we used Amish Paste Tomatoes)
• 1 1/2 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns, whole
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp celery seed
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3/4 c raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
• 4 Tbsp raw, unfiltered pourable honey or grade B maple syrup
• 4 Tbsp unrefined coconut sugar (or to taste)
• 1 1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
• 1 Tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Blanch, peel, core, quarter, and seed tomatoes.
2. Heat olive oil in stock pot on medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute 5 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes to the pot and cook for 30 minutes on medium heat.
4. Meanwhile, place the cinnamon stick, peppercorns, rosemary, and celery seeds on a square cut piece of cheesecloth and tie closed with a piece of string.
5. In a small saucepan, bring vinegar and spice bag to a low boil over medium heat, then cover and remove from heat and set aside.
6. Add basil and parsley to tomato mixture then blend tomato mixture in blender until smooth and return to pot.
7. Discard spice bag from vinegar and pour vinegar into tomato mixture.
8. Add remaining spices, sugar, and honey to the tomato mixture.
9. Bring stock pot to a boil then reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring often, until mixture is reduced by half (about 45-60 minutes) and mounds on spoon.
10. Transfer mixture to sterilized jars leaving 1/4" headspace.
11. Remove any air bubbles and wipe rims clean. Add lids and rings and tighten.
12. Process mixture in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (at sea level). Add 1 minute for each additional 1000 feet of elevation.

taken by : http://smarterspoonfuls.com/homemade-spiced-ketchup/#comment-874