Better Than Storebought Ketcup Recipe (lacto-fermented)

I made lacto fermented ketchup a couple of time times while I was on GAPS. It’s a decent recipe, and filled the ketchup niche for me while I was not able to eat many different kinds of foods. Sadly, my husband said it was fine as a kind of tomato condiment, but it wasn’t really, you know, like *ketchup*.

So I bought him ‘real’ ketchup with msg and high fructose corn syrup while I focused on finishing my own diet experience. Now that I’m mostly off of GAPS I have a little more time and energy for new kitchen experiments, and realized that I really wanted to make a good-for-you ketchup the my husband would really enjoy.

A little research turned up this recipe as being a good substitute for storebought. And a little tinkering led to a combination of the two recipes. Colton did a side by side taste test on sausage and fried potato with my homemade ketchup versus the storebought ketchup we have right now (generic brand Kroger). He’s reserving complete judgement until he gets to try them on french fries, but on fried potato he said the homemade ketchup was actually better than the storebought.

Win.

Lacto-fermented Imitation Storebought Ketchup

6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup whey (drained from yogurt)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder

Mix all ingredients in a pint jar. Cap loosely and ferment at room temperature for two days. (Keep it a few feet away from sauerkraut, sourdough or other ferments in your kitchen to prevent crossing of bacteria strains–different ferments use different kinds of good bacteria.) After two days tighten the cap and transfer to the fridge.

We taste tested after one day of fermentation and the flavor was good–it just hadn’t reached it’s peak probiotic level yet.

If you are a ‘we sweeten our yogurt with wheat bran’ kind of family, you can definitely cut down on the amount of honey in the recipe (by half to three-quarters, or just use this recipe), but if you’re really looking for a processed food replica use the full amount.