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Old Virginia Catchup
1 peck green tomatoes 1/2 peck white onions 3 ounces white mustard seed 1 ounce allspice 1 pound brown sugar 1 ounce cloves 1/2 cup dry mustard 1/4 cup water 1 ounce black pepper 1 ounce celery seed Vinegar Chop the tomatoes and onions, sprinkle with salt, and let stand three hours. Drain well and put the pulp in a preserving-kettle with the other ingredients. Cover with vinegar, and boil slowly for one hour. Seal in clean, hot jars. Less mustard may be used if a less hot catchup is desired.
This is a full farmhouse batch of green tomato ketchup — closer to what we would call a chow-chow or relish than to smooth bottled ketchup. Scale it down unless you have a very large pot and a day to spend.
- A peckA peck is 8 dry quarts, roughly 12 to 14 lb of green tomatoes. The half peck of onions is about 6 to 7 lb. That is something like a 20-lb batch of vegetables before draining; the recipe states no yield, but it will be several quarts, and quartering it gives a manageable pot.
- The salt is unmeasured"Sprinkle with salt" assumed a cook who knew the ratio; recipes of this style commonly use something on the order of half a cup of coarse salt to a peck of chopped vegetables. Its work here is to draw water out over the three-hour stand, and most of it goes off with the drained liquid, so it seasons more than it preserves.
- Vinegar strengthHousehold vinegar varied in strength; modern distilled white or cider vinegar at 5 percent acidity is what you want here. "Cover with vinegar" means adding until the drained pulp is just submerged — for a full batch that is gallons, not quarts, so judge it by eye.
- Preserving-kettleThis means a wide, heavy, unlined-copper or enamelled pot — any large non-reactive stockpot serves. Do not use bare aluminium or cast iron with this much vinegar.
- Whole spicesThe ounce weights suggest the allspice, cloves and black pepper were whole. Ground spices will make the ketchup muddy and gritty; tie those whole spices in a muslin bag and lift it out at the end, leaving the mustard seed and celery seed loose, as the texture of this style depends on them.
- The mustard pasteThe 1/4 cup water is otherwise unaccounted for and almost certainly belongs with the 1/2 cup dry mustard; mix them to a smooth paste first and let it stand ten minutes, or the dry powder will clump into pockets in the kettle.
- The hour of slow boilingThis is what turns raw chopped tomato into a thick, spoonable relish. Keep it at a bare simmer and stir the bottom often; the sugar and mustard scorch readily once the mixture thickens.
- Sealing"Seal in clean, hot jars" is open-kettle canning, which is no longer considered a reliable seal. Follow a current tested procedure for processing acidified relishes, or simply keep the finished ketchup refrigerated and use it within a few weeks.