“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).
Apr 2nd, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Hi There,
This looks yummy.
I just have a couple of questions
The last item on the ingredients list…..Fish Sauce is that 1/2 teaspoon?
and how long will this keep in the fridge?
many thanks
Stella
Apr 3rd, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Stella
It’s 1/2 cup fish sauce. I’ve fixed it now. It goes a bit too fishy for my liking after a month or two but no signs of decay or mould. Good luck let us know how you go.
Apr 11th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Hey Jo and fellow Gods and Goddesses,Firstly thankyou for all your hard work, I love nourishing my family of 5 and always enjoy visiting you Jo and Wes and kids to learn about new and exciting health stuff.I recently tried Jo’s fermented tomatoe sauce and loved it.Yummo.I am going to make a batch on the week end and share with friend and fam.
Aug 11th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Love to try it. Are the cans a standard 440ml?
Aug 12th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Angel, the tomato past cans I use are small. 50 ml I think. You may be able to find some larger ones around.
Jan 18th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Hi Looks really yummy.
I am growing tomatoes in the back yard.
Can i use them instead of tinned ones?
Sep 17th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Hey, about that fish sauce, are there any sea vegetables I could use as a substitute? I’m a vegetarian.
Nov 29th, 2008 at 7:43 am
I have used Sally Fallon’s fermented ketchup recipe and Jamie Olivers non fermented [ which involves cooking tomatoes with other veg, herbs, spices, vinegar and sugar ( I used rapadura ) then bottling . Can these methods be mixed so that I can have Sally’s enzymes with Jamies flavours. Can anyone help with the science on this matter?
Feb 27th, 2010 at 8:57 am
I’d be interested if anyone could answer Allison’s question regarding the mixing of the two recipes…
Mar 12th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Hey, can anybody tell me how to preserve home-made tomato ketchup for a year in a tropical country like India? In March, tomatoes get real cheap over here. My friends tell me there is no way I can preserve without using preservatives (sodium benzoate & citric acid crystal combined) @ 1 gram of preservative for every 1 kilogram of tomato used? Is that the right blend? We don’t have the tomato ketchup daily, but need to add in some recipes to derive the yummy taste. Please help.
May 23rd, 2011 at 7:42 am
@allison - I’ve been making my own ketchup with my favorite cooked recipe and organic ingredients then adding a some whey and fermenting on the counter for two or three days. Seems to be the best of both worlds to me.