Technique for Fruit-based Ketchups and Hot Sauce
For this post, I want to outline a technique, rather than a specific recipe. For fruit-based ketchups that I've used both at the Locavore, at the place-that-shall-not-be-named and in others, the rules change but the ingredients largely stay the same. In my experience, exceedingly tart or bitter fruit works best for ketchups because naturally, the addition of vinegar, tomato paste, sugar, and salt, automatically work to tame the strong flavor. Good local midwest fruits for ketchups: Rhubarb (great, because usually it's free if you know the right people) Cranberries Currants (although, arguably more expensive - they can be $10/lb or more) Montmorency Cherries (the frozen-in-buckets, pitted, without added sugar version is best) Arguably, you can use stone fruits, sour grapes or other fruits similar to these as the base for your ketchup as well, but I find that the more tart the fruit, the better it stands up to the competing strong flavors also in the ketchups. Equipment: you nee
