Mushroom ketchup-great for a savoury boost and easy to make

Similar to Worcester sauce in consistency, mushroom ketchup adds a lift to any meaty soup or stew, or in a marinade.

This recipe goes back centuries, the one below is adapted from allotment-garden.org

Ingredients for Mushroom Ketchup:

2 lbs (900 g) mushrooms (preferably large, open ones) 1 onion 2 oz (56 g) salt ½ teaspoon ground allspice A pinch of ground mace A pinch of ground ginger A pinch of crushed cloves A pinch of cinnamon ½ pint (285 ml) brown malt vinegar Method for Mushroom Ketchup:

Wash and dry the mushrooms, trim off the ends of the stalks if necessary but do not peel them. Chop into small pieces. Slice the onion thinly. Layer the mushrooms and onion in the salt in a large bowl. Cover and leave for 24 hours and then rinse quickly and drain. Place in a pan with the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Two options: 1.Strain through a sieve or 2. Blend til very smooth Then pour into hot, sterilized, bottles and seal. Makes about 1½ pints (900 ml) of Mushroom Ketchup. Similar consistency to that of Worcester Sauce, thin, if you pass it. Thicker if you blend it, but either way is useful.

Note: This ketchup must be sterilized immediately, if you are going to keep in bottles out of the fridge.

To do this place the bottles in a deep container with a false bottom, making sure they do not touch each other or the sides of the container. This can be a purpose-built sterilizer complete with false bottom and thermometer, a large preserving pan or the base of a pressure cooker. What is essential is that it needs to be deep enough to contain a false bottom, a wooden or wire rack is ideal, and still hold enough water to completely cover the bottles. The bottles must not come into direct contact with the pan or they will crack.

If you are using corks, tie them down to prevent them blowing out during sterilizing. Screw tops should be tightened and then given a half turn back to loosen them slightly.

Add enough warm water to come up to the bottom of the corks or screw tops and then gradually bring the water up to 77ºC/170ºF and keep at this temperature for 30 minutes. If you’ve not got a sugar thermometer, raise the temperature slowly until there are tiny bubbles rising up from the bottom of pan and maintain at this stage for 30 minutes. In total it will take you about 1 ½ hours to complete the process. Use tongs to remove the bottles, tighten the screw tops or push in the corks.

Alternately, you could just refrigerate it, in a clean, sterilised bottle or container.

Sauces and ketchups (catsup) are very similar although, generally, ketchups have a slightly thinner consistency than sauces. Sauces are rubbed through a sieve to give a smooth mixture and then cooked again until they are thick enough not to separate...

bon appetit