Feeling fruity and nostalgic

What do you do with more fresh, garden-grown tomatoes than you can shake a stick at?

Make old-fashioned, home-made ketchup, what else? 

After a long, hot summer of planting, watering, twining, tending and, the moment we were all waiting for, picking, I was left with... lots and lots and lots of tomatoes! 

But one can only enjoy so much insalata caprese.

So, instead of wasting the bounty (as opposed to the Bountiful), I decided to contact the beau's mother for an old-fashioned, home-made ketchup recipe.

And she did not disappoint!

Made with (approximately) six tomatoes, six peaches, six pears, six white onions, three green peppers, 5 cups of granulated sugar, two cups of white vinegar, two tablespoons of salt and a teaspoon each of cloves, cinnamon, black pepper and celery seeds, the resulting fruit ketchup has a slightly darker hue than the store-bought variety and a complexity of flavour that is a joy to behold (and savour).

The entire process took about three hours with two pushkins (the mamita and I) working double-time. 

What was most time consuming was peeling everything. To properly peel a tomato, for example, you must first score it with an X before dropping it into boiling water. After about 30 seconds, you can take it out and immerse it in ice water. It is then ready to be peeled.

While peeling the tomatoes I was reminded of a particularly gruesome bris scene from Seinfeld.

Moving on...

After peeling, slicing, dicing, combining and bringing everything to a simmering, slow boil - while stirring often - we were left with lots and lots and lots... of fruit ketchup. Go figure!

Move over Heinz. There's a new ketchup boss in town.