Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Have completed homemade whey or raw vegetable-ferment brine ready. Keep the tomato paste cool before mixing with the starter. Set the measured cider vinegar aside for the finish.
- In a clean glass bowl, work the starter into the tomato paste with a wooden spoon. Scrape the bottom and sides until there are no watery pockets or dense unmixed lumps and the color is uniform.
- Add the cloves, allspice, salt, cayenne to taste and optional honey. Stir thoroughly until the spices are evenly dispersed and any honey streaks disappear.
- Transfer to a clean wide-mouth glass jar larger than the finished ketchup amount, leaving clear headspace. Wipe the inside walls above the ketchup and the rim clean. Fit a suitable fermentation lid according to its instructions; an ordinary screw lid needs pressure checks and brief release if needed, then reclosing.
- Leave at room temperature out of direct sunlight for two days. Label the start time and check the surface and ordinary-lid pressure during that rest. Visible bubbling may be slight.
- Stir in the reserved cider vinegar until smooth. Cover and refrigerate the finished ketchup. Use clean utensils when taking out portions.
- Keep airtight in the refrigerator for up to three months after the rest, or freeze extra in small covered portions for up to six months. Leave expansion room in freezer-suitable containers and thaw in the refrigerator.
Notes
Starter: Use completed homemade cultured whey or the same measured amount of raw homemade green sauerkraut juice. Whey contains dairy. The linked cabbage-and-salt brine is made without a dairy starter. Vinegar-pickle liquid and whey powder are different ingredients.
Paste: The card uses twelve ounces at the base batch, the lower end of the twelve-to-fourteen-ounce recipe range. Use tomato paste in a glass jar without added sugar or starch. This is concentrated paste, not tomato juice.
Vinegar: Reserve it during the initial culture mixture, following Katz’s fermented-condiment technique. Stir the full measured amount in after the two-day rest before refrigeration.
Honey: Optional. Without it the ketchup is more tomato-forward and tangy. The listed amount doubles if you scale the batch.
Yield and timing: This recipe makes about one pint. Five minutes hands-on mixing plus two days resting, with ready starter prepared separately. Use a larger jar during the rest so the mixture has headspace. Keep the two-day schedule when doubling.
GAPS: Full GAPS after the ingredients have been introduced. Use whey only after that dairy food is introduced, or the dairy-free vegetable-brine option. Omit optional honey if currently avoiding it. Tomato and spices make this unsuitable for No-Plant GAPS.
Storage: Refrigerate airtight after the rest and vinegar finish for up to three months, or freeze portions for up to six months. Use clean utensils and thaw frozen portions in the refrigerator.