Quick, what is the first thing you think of when I say ketchup?….
Did you think mustard? Or by chance did you think tomato?
Unfortunately for me our tomato harvest was less than admirable. The deer in the area thought I planted all those lovely tomato plants just for them. Silly deer!
Which means today tomato is the wrong word. You should have thought pear.
So who said that ketchup has to be made with tomatoes?
Until I tried this, I would have said that. But this pear ketchup is made entirely without tomatoes and it is delicious. Not only that but it is made with the leftover parts of the pears I dehydrated. Win win!! Yes, I did say pear. It is also red, because there is nothing weirder than having the color way off on a food that is a childhood favorite. It would just be wrong to have tan, green, or orange ketchup. So, this recipe uses beets to get a perfect red hue.

Ingredients:
14 Lbs. Pear sauce
4 C. Onion (chopped and sauteed)
1/4 C. Butter, lard, or tallow
2 1/2 C. Beets (boiled until soft)
1 1/2 C. Maple syrup
4 C. Apple cider vinegar
6 Two inch strips orange zest
1 Cinnamon stick
18 Whole cloves
18 Allspice berries
1 Tbs. Mustard seed
Directions:
1) To make pear sauce boil the peels and cores and process them through a Victorian strainer.
2) Add pear sauce to stock pot.
3) Saute onions in butter. Place in blender.
4) Boil beets until soft. Add to blender, and puree.
5) Add beet and onion puree to stock pot.
6) Add maple syrup and apple cider vinegar to stock pot.
7) Wrap seasonings in cheese cloth and twisty tie it shut. Add cheesecloth seasoning baggy to stock pot.
8) Simmer in stock pot for 1 hour.
9) Divide pear ketchup into quart, or pint jars.
10) Put jars in boiling water bath for 20 minutes.
Sounds very interesting as I’m looking for a lower acidic ketchup. Pear sauce? Is that just processed, pulverized pears?
PEAR ketchup?! Now I’ve heard it all, and it sounds awesome!
I’m making it right now. I’m hoping that it will replace my use of Ketcup. We use way to much. And it has so much surgar.
Awesome! I’d love to know what you think. 🙂