Fermented tomato ketchup...

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Fermented tomato ketchup...

Postby johnny71 on Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:18 am

Has anyone had any luck making a fermented tomato ketchup (no cooking, no whey)? I got more tomatoes then I know to do with and wanted to try my hand at fermented ketchup.

I know a basic ketchup recipe consists of tomatoes, sweetener (raw honey), spices and vinegar (which will be replaced by lactic acid).

How would I go about this? I'm thinking along the lines of pepper mash, puree the tomatoes with 6% salt by weight. I'm not sure when I would add the honey? Maybe after the ferment has finished?

Any guidance would be awesome.
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Re: Fermented tomato ketchup...

Postby johnny71 on Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:45 am

Well for anyone following...

I decided to go with 5% salt by weight. I cored, blenderized and strained the tomato pulp from the seeds. I have almost 5 litres of tomato puree in a fido jar. I'm assuming their is a good chance that something will try to grow on the surface, so I tried using argon gas (you can find this in store wine departments), giving it a few sprits in the container then sealing the fido jar quick.

I'm not sure where I'm going to go from here, I wanted to avoid cooking but I'm not sure if that will be possible as there is a lot of liquid from the tomatoes. I'm thinking of letting this ferment for a bit, reserving some of the fermented puree while cooking down the rest. Then I can add the "tomato starter" back into the thickened ferment, instead of using whey.

So far I just notice some separation going on in the jar, with the pulp rising towards the top of the jar, with a layer of yellowish-red liquid on the bottom.
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Re: Fermented tomato ketchup...

Postby Christopher Weeks on Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:38 am

Interesting; please do keep us posted on this experiment!

I wonder if you could let it separate more and then siphon out the fluid. How much head-room have you left between the puree and the Fido's seal? I'd be inclined to keep it mixed by swirling if you have the clearance to do so without making a mess, but I'm not sure if that's a good or bad idea.
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Re: Fermented tomato ketchup...

Postby johnny71 on Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:22 am

Christopher Weeks wrote:Interesting; please do keep us posted on this experiment!

I wonder if you could let it separate more and then siphon out the fluid. How much head-room have you left between the puree and the Fido's seal? I'd be inclined to keep it mixed by swirling if you have the clearance to do so without making a mess, but I'm not sure if that's a good or bad idea.


There's plenty of head room. It is about an inch or two below the shoulder of the jar. I thought about mixing but was wondering if that would encourage alcoholic fermentation?
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Re: Fermented tomato ketchup...

Postby Pacecar on Tue Oct 02, 2012 12:37 pm

Recipe from CulturesForHealth:
Ingredients:
■2 6 oz cans of Tomato Paste
■1/3 cup Water
■2 tablespoons Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
■2 tablespoons Whey (optional)
■1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon
■1/8 teaspoon Cloves
■1/8 teaspoon Cayenne
■1/8 teaspoon Black Pepper
■Sea Salt, to taste
■1/4 cup Sucanat

Directions:
In a small saucepan combine the sucanat and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sucanat is dissolved.

Mix the water and sucanat with all other ingredients in a bowl. Transfer to a quart jar, cover with a lid, and allow to ferment for 2-5 days, depending on the temperature, until bubbly and fermented.
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Re: Fermented tomato ketchup...

Postby Polo on Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:11 am

If one were to lazy to make the tomato ketchup from scratch, it should be theoretical possible to buy one, through in some water-kefir grains, and make it sit for 24-48 hours. The tomato ketchup would be fermented and gotten rid of all the excess sugar. Never tried it though.
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Re: Fermented tomato ketchup...

Postby johnny71 on Tue Oct 16, 2012 10:54 am

Well I've been busy but today I have something to report!

After 2 weeks I cracked open the 3 litre fido jar. There was a lot of pressure but surprisingly, the contents didn't move. The tomato solids were in the top 1/3 of the jar, then the rest of the jar was a yellow brine and then an inch or so of red sediment on the bottom.

At first I was surprised there was no mold or yeast or anything on top of the tomato solids. I wonder if it was the acidity, salinity, the jar or all 3 that kept it clean? It smelled like concentrated tomatoes. I grabbed a big spoon and started scooping the solid layer off. I got about 90% of it before I started hitting the brine level. The tomato solids were essentially tomato paste! It had a wonderful concentrated tomato flavor, although a tad salty. I think I will try salting at a lower concentration next time. I can't believe how much energy I have wasted in the past, cooking down tomatoes and stirring them for hours.

I added a little brine to the tomato solids, some garlic powder, ground cloves and raw honey to taste. The consistency reminds me of an old style Heinz glass bottle sitting on a restaurant table waiting to be patted.

Now to see how long this will store in the fridge. I imagine with the 5% salt, the acids of the tomato and fermentation, plus the raw honey should keep this good for a long time in the fridge.
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Re: Fermented tomato ketchup...

Postby marina90 on Thu Sep 04, 2014 5:56 am

Hi,

You guys are missing starch from the basic recipe of ketchup. And this is the basic ingredient in the recipe of ketchup. The taste of Heinz Ketchup and Galaxy Tomato Ketchup is really good. I tried my best to make the same at home but not successful.
Galaxy Food Industries
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