Preparation of tomato ketchup

Aim: To learn how to prepare tomato ketchup

Material required: Name of the ingredient Tomato juice / pulp Onion (chopped) Garlic (chopped) Cloves (whole) Cardamom (coarsely powdered) Black pepper (coarsely powdered) Jeera / Cumin seeds (coarsely powdered) Cinnamon (coarsely powdered) Red chilies (powdered) Common salt Sugar Vinegar (good quality) Sodium benzoate Weight 3 kg 25 gm 3 gm 1 gm 1 gm 1 gm 1 gm 1 gm 1.50 gm 25 gm 1000 gm 10 ml 0.25 gm

Equipments: Gas-stove, pan, cooker, plate, wooden ladle, spoon

Procedure: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Select plant-ripened and healthy red tomatoes. Wash the fruit thoroughly in fresh water. Remove the green and blemished portions and discard them. Cut tomato fruits into small pieces. Collect the prepared pieces in an open pot and crush thoroughly with a wooden ladle. Cook the crushed mass for about 5 minutes. Strain it though 1 mm stainless steel sieve by rubbing it with the bottom of an enameled mug. 8. Discard the skin and seeds. 9. Weigh the tomato juice and keep it aside for further use. 10. Add 1/3 quantity of the sugar taken for the recipe to the juice. 11. Tie all the spices (onion, garlic, cloves, cardamom, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon etc.) loosely in a muslin cloth bag and place the bag in the tomato juice during boiling. 12. Heat the pulp till it thickens and reduces to about 1/3 of its original volume.

13. Remove the cloth bag and squeeze it well to extract the aroma and flavor of the spices. 14. Add salt, remaining sugar and vinegar to the pulp. 15. Heat the mass again for a few minutes so that the volume of the finished product is about 1/3 of the original pulp. 16. To a small quantity of finished product, add the sodium benzoate at the rate of 0.25 gm/kg of finished product and mix thoroughly. Observations: Color of the ketchup should be reddish.

Relevant information: The following points should be kept in mind to secure a high quality product. Use only plant ripened red tomatoes as far as possible. Never use iron equipment at any stage of processing. Iron forms black compounds with the tannin of the tomatoes or of the spices used. Equipments should be preferably stainless steel. Copper equipments also adversely affect the color of tomato products. Further there is a severe legal limitation on the amount of copper in tomato products. Avoid prolonged heating and cool the product quickly after preparation.