Nourished Magazine :: Wisdom to thrive by

“Ketchup provides us with an excellent example of a condiment that was formerly fermented and therefore health promoting, but whose benefits were lost with large scale canning methods and a reliance on sugar rather than lactic acid as a preservative. The word ketchup derives from the Chinese Amoy dialect ke-tsiap or pickles fish-brine or sauce, the universal condiment of the ancient world. The english added foods like mushrooms, walnuts, cucumbers and oysters to this fermented brew; Americans added tomatoes from Mexico to make tomato ketchup.” –Sally Fallon

One of the hardest changes to make toward traditional food for a family is letting go of the sugar laden, chemical filled tomato sauce with barbecues, chips or sausages. For quite some time we spent oodles of dollars buying organic, sugar free tomato sauce, just to be able to give the kids this option. Now we just make our own. It’s nice to be able to offer tomato sauce without hovering over the bottle, growling at the children when they overindulge and inevitably waste the precious condiment (are any kids conservative when serving their favourite food?) It’s nice to join a village barbecue and have tomato sauce just like all the other families. So here’s our family’s version of Sally Fallon’s Ketchup.

Makes 500ml

3 cups canned tomato paste, preferably organic

1/4 cup whey
1 tablespoon sea salt

1/2 cup maple syrup or rapadura sugar (dehydrated sugar cane juice)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 to 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and mashed

1/2 cup fish sauce (homemade or commercial)

Mix all ingredients until well blended. Place in a wide mouth glass jar with plastic lid. Leave at least 1 inch of space at the top of the jar. Sit in dark place at room temperature for about 2 days before transferring to refrigerator. You can transfer to a squeeze bottle. Try a used commercial squeeze bottle, buy a second hand one or just spoon tomato sauce on your plate. Children prefer less garlic and cayenne pepper.

About the Author...

Joanne Hay, Editor of Nourished Magazine, Chief Nourisher and Mother of three is very grateful to live in Byron Bay and be able to share all she has learned about Nourishment. She has trained as an Acupuncturist (unfinished), Kinesiologist (finished) and parent (never finished). She serves the Weston A Price Foundation as a chapter leader. She loves sauerkraut, kangaroo tail stew, home made ice cream, her husband Wes and her kids Isaiah, Brynn and Ronin (in no particular order…well maybe ice cream first).