Yesterday I made ketchup for the first time but it didn't thicken. I followed the recipe and cooked it more than the time suggested to try and thicken it. Tastes good but looks like tomato sauce. Anyway I canned and will use it as tomato sauce but would still like to make ketchup. The recipe I used didn't ask for any type of thickener only cooking time to reduce the liquid. I have another recipe that is similar but different and probably will try that because I have tons of tomatoes to use up. Any ideas on what was wrong?
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Ingrid, I found it takes a lot of cooking to get it down to the right consistency (store-bought that you are used to) and even then it is not quite as thick, but closer. Otherwise you might add a little paste.
Nothing wrong with it, just a difference in the big equipment the companies have vs. home cooked.
I put my warm/hot tomato juice though 2 layers of good cheese cloth, or a jelly bag. It strains off the "water" in your tomatoes. Then I either make add spices and make sauce or ketchup. I have done this for years, no more burnt pans!''Michele
Did you use only paste type tomatos (Amish paste, Roma's) if not then that is the problem. Using anything other than paste tomatos contains too much juice and you will never be able to cook it down.
I used a mix of roma, heirloom type beefsteaks, and field tomatoes because they were all ripe. I never thought about the difference in the juice factor. I think the second recipe I want to try has tomato paste in it so that will probably help. Thanks for the tips ladies.
Give thanks to yourself everyday for all the wonderful things you do!
Ketchup didn't thicken
Posted - Sep 10 2011 : 07:48:54 AM
