Our rhubarb has suffered a bit this year, not enough rain has meant it's produced less stems than usual and those that have appeared are now rather on the tough side. This recipe is a great way of using up tough old stems, and makes a good fruity alternative to the ever present tomato ketchup.

Historically ketchup has it's roots in a Chinese fish based sauce, which gained popularity with 17th century western travellers. The tomato based sauce did not appear until the early 19th century when an early recipe states that 'One hundred tomatoes will make four or five bottles and keep good for two or three years'.

Ketchup's tendency to stick in the bottle is because it is a pseudoplastic, a property shared with other common substances such as custard, paint, blood and shampoo.

I didn't have any spare bottles, so put it in jars, which means it can be easily spooned out.

This recipe is adapted from the one in Pam Corbin's River Cottage Preserves.

  See here for the rhubarb ketchup recipe.

Recipe Costs

£6.68 2kg chopped rhubarb (mine was free)
£0.19 250g chopped onions
£0.10 3 garlic cloves
£0.16 100g demerara sugar
£0.14 100ml cider vinegar
£0.04 1 tsp ground coriander
£0.06 1 tsp ground cumin
£0.06 1 tsp ground ginger
£7.43 Total (£0.75 without buying the rhubarb)
£14.86 per kg of ketchup (£1.50 without buying the rhubarb - about half the cost of quality tomato ketchup)

The rhubarb is washed and then roughly chopped, along with the onion and garlic, as always a good sharp knife makes this a pleasurable job.

The vegetables are mixed together in a deep baking tray and roasted at 180°C for about an hour. I had to add a little water at the end to stop it all drying out.

After roasting the rhubarb will have broken down and absorbed the flavours of the onion and garlic.

Sieving the mixture is easier than it sounds, I used a combination of a metal spoon and silicon spatula to force as much of the pulp through as possible.
I ended up with about a litre of precious pulp in the bowl underneath.

The remnants in the sieve can be composted and the pulp in the bowl combined in a saucepan with the vinegar...

...sugar...

..and spices.

Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved, then keep simmering until it reaches the desired consistency (between 30 minutes and an hour).

Thickness can be a difficult one to judge because, as mentioned above, ketchup has rather odd properties. I went for a thickness which I would prefer on the plate rather than worrying about getting it out of a bottle.

Bottle the ketchup in sterilised bottles or jars, then store in a cool dark place for up to four months.
Keep in the fridge once opened.

Recipe Timings

10 minutes Preparation
25 minutes Straining
1 hours Simmering
15 minutes Bottling

Taste Test

Tangy and sharp, but also fruity.
Probably not great with fish and chips, but would make an excellent accompaniment to a gourmet burger.