2 Stitches: New Zealand Ketchup

Yesterday was our annual New Zealand Ketchup making day. Just in time too, 'cause a couple days ago Bill used the very last jar of our 2010 batch.

Making braised lamb shanks.

(After searing the lamb shanks, he uses red wine to deglaze the pan and then a pint of NZ ketchup and as much broth as he needs to have the right amount of braising liquid.)

I have no idea if there's anything truly "New Zealand" about New Zealand Ketchup - other than the source of the recipe - but I do know that it's yummy. And that those kiwis do not mess around when it comes to cooking up condiments. The recipe calls for 12 lbs of tomatoes!! Luckily, we had a good crop of tomatoes this year.

So, here are the 12 lbs of tomatoes in a 12 quart stock pot.

Here they are along with the other main ingredients - 6 lbs of apples and 4 large onions.

Our copy of the recipe is actually written on the back of an envelope.

Bill got this from a gal who lived here on Lopez for a number of years, but was originally from New Zealand. (My guess is this is why Lopezians call it "New Zealand Ketchup".) A couple years ago, I contacted a kiwi gal I know and Sandra advised me that the first problem with anything called "New Zealand Ketchup" is that they would call it "sauce" (rather than "ketchup").

On a side note, Julie (recipe source) actually played a role in Bill & I meeting each other. She ran sheep up here and initiated a dog trial ... back in the days when Bill was training & trialing Border Collies. Bill - and his dogs - came up for the trial and eventually stayed.

But, back to yesterday's production.

I chopped up the onions and added them to the pot with the tomatoes. Then started in on peeling, coring and cutting up the apples. About half way through that process, I realized that I'd need to start cooking things down in order to make room for the rest of the apples.

After about an hour, everything had cooked down a little.

Good thing, 'cause now it was time to add the sugar, vinegar and spices.

Then the mixture gets cooked for another 3-4 hours. (You can see that things bubbled over the edge a few times during this process. What a clean up mess that turned out to be.)

Next, it's time to puree the entire concoction. No way I could do that in a single pot. So, I decanted half to my 8 quart stock pot and went at both pots with the immersion blender.

I dumped everything back together and put it on the back burner to keep warm and cook down a little more while getting the canning stuff ready to go.

Finally, it was time to can. Here's the first batch ladled up into pint jars.

All set to drop into the well-used canning pot (borrowed from Aunt Barbara).

Half-an-hour later, out they came. When Catie helped with this last year, she mentioned the fun tools you get to use when canning ... like jar tongs ...