Catsup

On Tuesday, Richard made homemade Catsup, from our Tomatoes which are announcing an end to a bountiful season. Just in case you haven't made Catsup or even thought about making it, let me pass on some information about what he did.

Making Catsup is a long slow process. It surely must be a meditation on patience. The whole process took Richard 6 hours of slow cooking to turn 8 gallons of Tomatoes into 6 pints of beautiful tasty Catsup.

He used the following ingredients: Tomatoes (mostly Big Beef and Goliath, and whatever he had that was ripe), Onions, Garlic, Vinegar, Sugar, 1 Green Pepper, Spice Bag (Cumin, Mustard Seed, Celery Seed, Allspice, Cinnamon Stick), and a very small bit of Jalapeno Pepper to liven it up but not to render it hot. (Richard used the Ball Blue Book Recipe for a starting point, but used less Sugar and Vinegar.)

For a glimpse at the process, he 1st put the Tomatoes in hot boiling water and then immersed them in cold water. This is a quick and easy process for peeling them. He peeled and cored them, then separated out as much juice as he could. He cooked the Tomatoes, Onions, Garlic, Green Pepper and Jalapeno Pepper until tender (about an hour). He ran this mixture through the Food Processor and then hand rubbed it through a sieve. He then put the Tomato mixture back on the stove, adding the Vinegar, Sugar, and Spice bag. He boiled it down to about half. Throughout the process, he stirred the good stuff frequently. After adding the Vinegar and Sugar, the mixture has a tendency to burn. So he stirred more frequently and was ever vigilant. When the Catsup reached the desired consistency, he placed it in Pint jars, sealing them in a boiling water bath for about 20 minutes.

On Wednesday, we were mulling over thoughts for Dinner. Catsup came to mind. So we centered our whole meal on Catsup. Have you ever even considered featuring a meal around Catsup? I suppose if we all made our own delicious Catsup we would do it a little more often.

1st, we decided to have Grilled Hamburgers to go under the Catsup. Add to that an assortment of Chopped Fresh Herbs, Mayonnaise, Tomato Slices, Onion Rings, Bread and Butter Pickles (which we made last year), sandwiched in between Homemade Whole Wheat Bread from an Amish Lady at the Farmer's Market.

What would go with Catsup and Hamburgers? We added fresh Corn on the Cob, also of this season. Melanie also cut up an assortment of Fresh Veggies: Tomatoes, Dikon Radish, Armenian and Lemon Cucumbers.

And what would go with Catsup, Hamburgers, Corn on the Cob, Tomatoes, Cucumbers of the Season? Apple Pie. I made our 1st Homemade Apple Pie from the Golden Delicious Apples on our Tree. I apologize that it was too dark to take a good photo of the Pie and I was way too intent on eating my slice to take time for a photo op. I thought whoever would be reading this could use their imagination in considering warm Apple Pie. So how did you do?

As the meal closed, we broke out into our own special rendition of the song "Catsup" from the commercial on "News from Lake Woebegone", a regular feature on the Prairie Home Companion radio program of Garrison Keeler. We tried not to miss this wonderful program (especially during the winter months) when we lived up North. We smiled. Yum.