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Tomato Catsup (IV)
Mrs. Carson.
One buhsel of good ripe tomatoes, one-half gallon of good vinegar, also fresh ground spices, quarter pound allspice, two ounces cloves, three tablespoons black pepper, six large onions or two heads garlic, one pint and a half of salt, four large red peppers; boil for a length of time, and strain through a sieve, and add the vinegar last; boil until it is thick enough.
A plantation-scale catsup: a bushel of tomatoes is roughly 53 lb, so this is a day's work over a big kettle. Scale it to a tenth and the proportions still hold.
- Scale firstOne bushel of ripe tomatoes is about 53 lb and yields perhaps 3 to 4 quarts of finished catsup after long reduction. A tenth batch (5 lb tomatoes, 3/4 cup vinegar, 2 tablespoons allspice, 2 1/2 teaspoons cloves, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 onion, 1 red chile) makes roughly a cup and a half.
- The salt is not a typo, but it is not for usA pint and a half of salt is close to 2 lb, or a little over half an ounce of salt per pound of tomatoes. That was preservation, not seasoning. Salt to taste at the end instead, starting well under a tablespoon per 5 lb of fruit.
- Vinegar last, and that mattersAdding the vinegar after the long boil keeps its acidity and aroma from cooking off.
- "Boil for a length of time"Expect 2 to 3 hours of open simmering for a scaled-down batch to break down and lose most of its water, and considerably longer at the original bushel scale; then more after the vinegar goes in. Use the widest pan you have, stir the bottom often, and keep the heat moderate; tomato paste scorches easily once it thickens.
- Spices"Fresh ground" is the instruction to follow. A quarter pound of allspice and 2 oz of cloves in a bushel is assertive but not absurd; ground clove in particular turns medicinal if overdone, so add it in stages and taste. Tying whole spices in muslin and straining them out gives a cleaner result than ground spice left in.
- Red peppers and garlic"Four large red peppers" most likely means fresh hot pods of the cayenne type rather than sweet bell peppers. Two heads of garlic stand in for six onions, so the two are alternatives rather than additions.
- Strain, then reducePushing the cooked pulp through a sieve removes skins and seeds and is what separates catsup from a chunky sauce. A food mill does the same job faster; a blender does not, since it purees the skins in rather than out.
- StorageThe original relied on heavy salt and vinegar in sealed bottles. With the salt cut back, treat it as a fresh condiment: refrigerate and use within a few weeks, or freeze. Do not shelf-store it without following a current tested canning process.
Tomato catsup of this kind sits between the older fish and mushroom "ketchups" of English cookery, which were thin, dark, salty brews used as flavouring liquids, and the sweet bottled product that came to dominate American tables later. Note what is absent here: no sugar at all. The heat comes from black and red pepper, the depth from allspice and cloves, and the keeping power from vinegar and a great deal of salt. The Home Cook Book (Chicago, 1874, with later printings and derivative editions) was compiled from contributions by named local women, which is why the same preparation appears several times over with different hands behind it, this one credited to Mrs. Carson. A bushel-sized recipe tells you the household context: tomatoes arrived all at once in late summer, could not be kept, and had to be turned into something bottled in a single long day at the stove.