Monday 12 August 2013

summer madness...?

I think its possible I'm going a bit bonkers. On Saturday I went into the city for some essential bits of shopping...only to find I'd left my purse at home... (yep, realised at the till...)

And then today, in the midst of painting, cleaning windows and ordering this...


(how depressing is it to spend silly amounts of money on vinyl flooring for a house you aren't living in?! One of those jobs that never got done, but the pending appearance of estate agent & viewers means the 25yr old flooring has to go! I'm sure the chap in the shop thought I was mad when I said I didn't really care which one, whichever worked out cheapest!)

Anyway, in the midst of all that...I got an urge too get the preserving pan out! Because what we really needed today, was homemade tomato ketchup!

I think it was something to do with having done precious little in the way of preserves this year - marmalade early on, but no jam, no pickles and no chutney. And there is something very satisfying about making those things. And I'd seen a recipe for ketchup and have never made it before (other sauces, yes, but not tomato ketchup).

And the tomatoes were local and just so delicious looking...


Never mind that (as Tom helpfully pointed out!) we don't eat much ketchup, and there seems to be enough here for a small army...

Never mind that this took about 3 1/2 hrs of chopping, stirring, sieving and bottling...

Never mind that the entire house now smells of sticky, spicy vinegar...

Those lovely juicy tomatoes were transformed...




Inevitably, I didn't have enough bottles - in any case, its something of a habit to not quite sterilise enough jars/bottles for whatever I'm doing...!


But eventually... industrial quantities of Norfolk Tomato Ketchup!


I hope it tastes nice, otherwise it will have been an awful waste of those lovely fresh tomatoes! And I will be hunting out 'things to do with ketchup' recipes...

I am feeling slightly as though I've had a meltdown moment, this hadn't even made it on to the to do list! But there is something incredibly therapeutic about making and potting things into lovely bottles that you just knew would come in useful one day! (Oh lordy, beginning to think like my mother...!)


Off to try to sleep now and refocus on the important jobs! No more faffing allowed tomorrow!

S x

5 comments:

  1. Yum your tomato sauce looks great.

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  2. That tomato sauce looks wonderful. My mum and two of my aunts make it to my grandmother's recipe so I never (rarely) have to buy sauce. In any case I hate the bought stuff. When I make jams or chutneys, etc I always end up with too many jars sterilised, I suppose better too many than too little.
    xXx Helen

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  3. That looks delicious. Hope you get your house sold soon! xx

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  4. You could use it in casseroles bolognaise sauces maybe ? looks great.

    There is a bumper crop of everything I'm told on the radio so I might go down the lane & take a look at the Elderberry bushes this year.
    I have an apple tree which produces small eaters,lots this year going to bag them & give them away.
    Then the tree has to be moved !

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    Replies
    1. I tried it tonight and actually, as a non-ketchup lover, its not bad! Definitely a bit less 'chemically' somehow than the stuff from the shops. But bolognaise might be a good call when we are getting to the 3rd bottle...

      The house I'm about to try and sell has a big plum tree which is laden with plums this year. In two minds as to what to do with them as its a bit of a wasp trap when there's a lot of fruit, maybe not strong selling point!! Good luck moving the apple tree, that sounds a high risk manouvre!

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