I have a childhood memory of my sister Nina explaining to her boyfriend that everyone says “ketchup,” but the word is really “catsup.” I’m not sure she was quite right, but catsup and ketchup are essentially the same product.
Hallie commented that maybe Ina made ketchup with her tomatoes, and in fact, I found a recipe for “Jiffy Ketchup” in her recipe box.
1
cup tomato juice or puree
1
medium onion chopped
Vinegar,
salt, sugar and spices to taste
I don’t think I’ll try it. I’ll let the folks at Heinz or Hunt’s make mine.
In my research, I discovered that ketchup can be made from other ingredients. Here’s another variation from Ina’s recipe box:
Cucumber
Catsup
Grate about 3 dozen large cucumbers. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Allow one small onion for each bottle. Heat enough cider vinegar to pour over and seal jars.
On the other hand, maybe Ina did have a lot of tomatoes. Read on:
Tomato
Pickles
Take
about 8 quarts (1 peck) tomatoes. Slice and sprinkle with salt. Let stand
overnight. Next morning, drain. Add ½ dozen large onions sliced.
Mix:
1
½ scant cups sugar
1
tbsp mustard
1
tbsp cinnamon
1
tbsp allspice
1
tsp cloves
A
little cayenne
Sprinkle
over tomatoes and onions. Add sufficient vinegar to cover. Let simmer on back
of stove till tender or pack into two quart jars, bring to a boil, and let boil
for about 15 minutes.
Yes, well – I had never heard of tomato pickles, but you can find recipes online. Interesting. KW
I am currently reading Little Heathens and they DID eat a lot of tomatoes! She mentions that pork chops were fried and stored in lard in the cold cellar and all they had to do was pull them out for a meal and heat them up. They stored sour cream and cream in a big pot which they lowered into the cistern by a 20 ft. rope. She mentions that they would eat sliced tomatoes with a meal and has also mentioned a couple other preparations with tomatoes. She said they ran out of summer vegetables by January and only had the things that they canned (canned tomatoes, pickles, etc). By spring they were delighted to pick hoards of dandelion greens which were washed and cooked with bacon grease. They also made a dish of wilted lettuce in bacon grease--maybe the Dobson family really loved wilted lettuce, too.
ReplyDeleteI must reread Little Heathens. I have forgotten much of it.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten about wilted lettuce salad. It's very possible that our Dobson family did enjoy it during the summer. I like it, too, but I seldom make it because it must be served immediately upon wilting the lettuce. As I recall, you cook the bacon and remove it from the pan. To two tablespoons of bacon grease, add sugar, salt, pepper, diced green onions, and vinegar and bring to a boil. Then pour this hot dressing over the prepared greens. Delicious! Seems like a lot of old-time recipes call for vinegar.
I have plenty of dandelions, but I've never been able to bring myself to eat them.