Hayden loves to ask us “what if” questions.. What if you only had one sport left to play for the rest of your life? What food would you eat if you had to choose just one? Where would you live if you couldn’t travel anywhere anymore ever ever for the rest of your life ever?
It’s a fun game. When he asks me about food, and the one thing I couldn’t live without (besides wine!… but I usually keep this to myself) is always, without fail, tomatoes.
I love tomatoes. I remember eating a tomato-cucumber-mayo-salt- pepper-white-bread sandwich standing in the kitchen in Medicine Hat… it was my first true memory of being totally entranced by flavor. I was in LURVE. Still am.
My affinity for ketchup comes naturally, then, considering my love affair with tomatoes. Ketchup has always been my favorite part of french fries. Don’t get me wrong, I like fries, but each bite is always more ketchup than fry. Fries have always been a ketchup vehicle.
I have found two homemade ketchup recipes that we really love- one takes five minutes, one takes fifty. They are both delicious- full-bodied, perfect balance between sweet and tangy- but I will tell you that the five minute version gets made weekly and the fifty minute version gets saved for days when I have a lot of time to dedicate towards condiments… which happens every three years or so. They are both healthy alternatives to store-bought versions full of HFCS and additives. I like to use Bionature organic tomato paste because it comes in a jar (no BPA!) and I use the same jar to store the ketchup in when it’s finished.
Below is the five minute version… it’s totally worth giving it a go!
- 7oz jar organic tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
- Stir for a few minutes to melt honey and incorporate ingredients.
- Store in a lidded glass container in the refrigerator. Ours has lasted two weeks in the fridge, might last even longer.
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