I’m an avid label reader.
And if you’re serious about your health, you should be too.
When I go grocery shopping I read the labels of every box, bottle, can, container and bag that I pick up. I used to just buy whatever looked good but then I learned how companies pay a fortune on marketing just so consumers like you and I can buy them.
Their priority is their profit and not necessarily our health. So we have to look at what we’re buying before we give it the okay and put it into our bodies.
Recently, I decided that I wanted to limit my sugar intake. (I talk about why in this video.) So I started checking the labels of everything that I bought for their sugar content.
And lo and behold I kept seeing high fructose corn syrup as a primary ingredient in a lot of processed foods including ketchup! So I thought to myself, “let me try Organic – surely that must be better!”
*rolls eyes and kisses teeth* The organic labels used sugar too, they were just nice enough to use “organic” sugar.
Le sigh.
Most ingredients won’t say “sugar”, instead they will use some other name such as :
high fructose corn syrup fructose aspartame maltodextrin dextrin glucose fructose sucralose (These are some of the more popular names. You can see a complete list of sugar synonyms here.)
So like I was telling you, I needed ketchup.
But what’s a girl to do when she needs ketchup and none of it is friendly to her body?
She makes her own.
Homemade Ketchup without White Sugar
A savory and slightly sweet tomato ketchup
Ingredients
- 6 oz organic tomato paste
- 1 organic tomato, chopped
- 2–3 sun-dried tomoatoes, chopped
- SEASONINGS (use your taste buds to gauge, don’t worry about exact measurements)
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 TB apple cider vinegar
- garlic powder or 1 garlic clove, minced
- smoked paprika
- dry jerk seasoning
- adobo
- Himalayan pink sea salt
- coconut sugar, to taste
Instructions
- Place tomato paste, tomato, sundried tomatoes into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth paste forms.
- Transfer tomato paste mixture into a small pot and place over low heat
- Slowly add your seasonings in the order they are listed (Allow yourself to taste after each addition and flavor your own ketchup according to your liking)
- Don’t get stuck in exact measurements
- Follow your intuition and let your taste buds guide you
- Once the ketchup is to your liking, let it simmer for 10 minutes and stir every minute to prevent sticking
- Transfer to a clean glass container and let cool
- Once cool, cover completely, date it and store in the fridge
- Makes approximately 8 oz or 1 cup of ketchup.
- Enjoy!
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