Ketchup

Sure enough, we got back in the scullery. With a poor harvest but a strong hankering, I scooped up some tomato poundage at the market and Oliver and I set out to make ketchup.

We borrowed a food mill from the Cookmans and Oliver whirled away. Then we boiled the stuff down. And down. And down. This new recipe we tried (it's practically the same as the last one we did, from the Ball Blue Book) said it would take about an hour of simmering. I think it was closer to 4. Maybe 5. I don't know. But I do know I wanted to go to bed and my boiling water bath was losing water. So our ketchup is not particularly viscous. I'm okay with that. It's quite yummy. (And it actually set up a bit more on cooling.)

So we've tested our canning setup a couple times now and it's working great. We have the apartment sized (20") stove in the scullery and all the canning jars/lids etc in the cabinets there. Next to the stove is a butcher block for working and setting the cooling jars. And of course, up above are our Nicki McClure inspiration art. So far - so good, despite the rickety stove. Next up? Saurkraut!