Malleable Reality

Have you ever read the ingredients list on the back of your store bought ketchup bottle?  High fructose corn syrup is often one of the main ingredients (yuck!)

Ever since we finished using our favorite store bought ketchup, I decided to no longer buy ketchup, and that the ketchup we use in our house would only be homemade.  Of course, there’s always the all natural, organic ketchup that can be purchased at Whole Foods in case of condiment emergency. But organic store bought ketchup, even in it’s “all natural” state, is still not as healthy as homemade lacto-fermented ketchup.

So here is a healthy, all natural, organic, enzyme & probiotic filled (via lacto-fermentation) recipe.  This recipe is SO simple, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been making ketchup yourself all along  (at least I did!)

Ingredients:

3 cups organic tomato paste (I used 4 cans of 6oz Muir Glen organic cans — in the future I will most likely use Bionaturae brand since they come in glass jars instead of cans)

1/4 cup liquid whey (homemade only…click the link to learn how to make your own).

1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup

2-3 organic black peppercorns (crushed)

1 Tbs sea salt

3 cloves organic garlic, mashed

1/2 cup fish sauce (try to only use fish sauce that has only anchovies and salt as the listed ingredients…I tried to find it, but the only one I could get at the time also had sugar.  Next time I will go to an Asian supermarket since they have a vast selection of fish sauce, but for now, I used Thai Kitchen - which has anchovies, salt, and sugar)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and mix on low with a hand mixer (you could also just whisk this mixture together yourself, but I prefer the hand mixer to make sure everything is mixed well).  Pour into a 1 quart jar or container.  Make sure there is approx 1 inch at the top of the jar/container to allow for expansion during fermentation.  Leave the jar/container out on the kitchen counter for 2 days to ferment, then store in the refrigerator.  Mark the container with the date to keep track of how long you’ve had it for.  Will keep for up to 6 months.

I adapted this recipe from Sarah, at The Healthy Home Economist, who adapted recipe from Nourishing Traditions Cookbook by Sally Fallon Morell.

**NOTE: After the new year (my anniversary with Tumblr), I will most likely be moving Back to Basic posts to SUNDAYS!  It will be “Back to Basics Sundays” instead of “Back to Basics Fridays”.   I will post this note again before the change is made for sure.