Homemade Tomato Ketchup

1. Wash the tomatoes and remove any stems. If you’re using big tomatoes, roughly chop them. If you’re using cherry tomatoes, it’s best to pierce or slice some of them so they don’t splatter when you mash them, but up to you. Add them to a large pot and cook over medium to medium-low heat, mashing slightly to allow the juices to run and start to steam off. Let cook down for about 45 minutes.
2. Pour mixture into jar and blend using an immersion blender. Pass through a mesh sieve pouring back into your pot, to remove the seeds and skin. NOTE: if you don’t have an immersion blender and don’t want to worry about blending hot tomatoes in your blender. You can reverse the steps and start by blending the tomatoes before cooking them down. The order would be: 1. Blend tomatoes. 2. Strain mixture while pouring it into pot. 3. Cook down for 35-45 minutes to reduce.
3. At this point you will have a thickened tomato paste that actually tastes like ketchup but without the sweetener and spices. Add all the other ingredients and stir well, then cook on medium heat for another 5-10 minutes until the thickness/consistency you like is achieved. Leave it to cool down then transfer to an airtight container or bottle and keep refrigerated for up to a month.