My grandmother would do anything for her family.   Kind of a given, right?  All grandmothers are like that.

My mother was telling me a funny story this week, one that brought me to making my own ketchup.  Yeah, I know.  We’ve already established that my thought process is bizarre.

This is my beloved uncle Max.

In the early70s, Uncle Max decided it was time to lose some weight.  So he joined Weight Watchers.

Weight Watchers was a very different program then.  Duh.  But it was beyond different.  If you go here, you’ll see some recipe cards from this era in Weight Watchers history.  Recipes like “Fluffy Mackerel Pudding”, and “Bean and Mushroom Salad” (which is actually a gelatin mold)…ugh.  I physically shuddered when I read these…

I couldn’t find a meal plan, but for some bizarre reason, Max had been instructed to eat 8 hot dogs every day for lunch.  Yeah, you totally read that correctly.  8 hot dogs.

Poor Uncle Max couldn’t stomach a hot dog without ketchup.  Ketchup was a forbidden food of Weight Watchers at this time.  So Grandma Olive, ever the fixer-of-problems and determined to help her son through his weight hurdle, decided that Max could eat ketchup if it was homemade.  Genius.

Okay, so let’s fast forward 40 some years…

This is my beloved son Dean. 

You probably know him better as DJ.  Or Deej.  Or Devo.

This kid will eat anything.  As long as it has ketchup on it.  Needless to say, when we get low on ketchup, we get panicky.

We’re panicky right now.

When I told my husband that I wanted to make ketchup…he just shook his head.

“Amy, why don’t you just go buy some?” he asked.  Gosh, he’s no fun.

So today, in honor of Uncle Max and my baby Detour, we are making Grandma Olive’s Ketchup.

I found the recipe here…complete with a paper clip so she could quickly reference it in case of a ketchup emergency.

Actually, they call it “Catsup”.  I can’t ever say it or spell it like that:  Cat.  Soup.

And holy crap, the recipe makes a lot of ketchup.  I’m halving it.

The recipe starts with 3 quarts of tomato juice:

Along with the juice, we have 1 1/2 cups vinegar, 1 1/2 cups sugar…and a whole bunch of spices:

Do you like my attempt at passing myself off as a food stylist?  Yeah, I’m totally amateur.

This is 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp red pepper…and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.  Yeah, that’s a weird one…we’ll see how it comes out.

Pour it all in a big  pot:

Yeah, today is a jeans and Adidas day.

And cook for 1 1/2 hrs.  It doesn’t say “high”, or “simmer”…it just says “cook”.  I’m going to simmer.

After 1 1/2 hrs, it looks like this:

It has cooked down about 1 1/2 inches.

Now we make a slurry…1/4 cup of cornstarch with 1/2 cup water.  You’ve probably done this when making soup.

Dump that into the pot and cook another 40 minutes.

Now…we cool slightly.

I wasn’t exactly sure how to store this…so I’m turning to Old Faithful:  Mason Jars.

I’m not going to seal them…just going to store in the fridge until they cool.

Just to be safe, after they cool, I’m going to transfer them to freezer containers.

It made 2 quarts…plus a little extries…

And now it’s ready for a 8 hot dogs.  Or how about just two:

I’ve never had fresh ketchup.  It’s a lot different from store-bought.  It’s a lot more AWESOME.

And I ain’t just sayin’ that.  It’s more complex…it doesn’t have that corn syrupy taste.  My husband will never eat this. That should tell you how great it is.

If you so desire, here’s the recipe that kept Uncle Max straight on Weight Watchers ca 1974…and the recipe that will keep D-Train eating whatever Mommy puts in front of him.

Tomato Ketchup

Adapted from Favorite Recipes from Our Best Cooks, 1964

3 quarts tomato juice

1 1/2 cup vinegar

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp red pepper

1 1/2 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients in a large stock pot.  Simmer for 1 1/2 hours until cooked down about 1/3.

Combine 1/4 cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup water and add to the tomato juice mixture.  Simmer another 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cool slightly, store in freezer containers.

Unfortunately, this recipe doesn’t give any indication as to how long to store this ketchup.  I’ve done some research, and similar recipes advise that it can be kept in the refrigerator for 1 month.  I would venture to say that we’ll go through this in a month, but I’m going to freeze it anyways.  Safety first, right?

Seriously, try it.  It’s worth the work!