Home recipe for making tomato ketchup

Tomato sauce is one of the favorite ‘add-ons’ used with break fast dishes. People of every age group prefer it particularly for its sweet and sour taste that adds a different taste to the common breakfast dishes. Tomato sauce is used widely with snacks and different types of cuisines and dishes.

The Indian Ketchup and sauce market is reportedly estimated to be growing at 20 percent growth rate annually. Major players in the Indian Ketchup and sauce market are Nestle (Swiss MNC), Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Heinz (US), Del Monte, Sil, Tops, Cremica and druk.

Tomatoes used for ketchup preparation ideally should be sound and ripe with more than 25% by weight of soluble solids (tomato paste, little lesser in %) as per the Indian standards set for tomato ketchup ingredients. American standards also require a minimum of 25% solid waste for standard ketchup. Ketchup having a minimum content of 29% total solids is referred as extra standard and 33% or more is termed fancy ketchup.Reports appeared in media suggest that some manufacturers often compromise on these standards without disclosing the facts to the consumer.

Health conscious people find it detrimental to health since any cut in the quantity of tomato paste reduces the quantity of lycopene (an antioxidant) that guards against many diseases. We may overcome this problem making tomato ketchup at home using fresh ripe tomatoes.
It is always wise to prepare at a time when prices of tomatoes fruits are at its lowest in the market. It will drastically reduce the cost of preparation. In this way you can prepare it according to your taste and under hygienic conditions with half of the cost of a bottle of tomato ketchup purchased from market. Recipe presented here is very simple and needs no expertise or practice for its preparation. Once you prepare it on your own, you'll never prefer to purchase from a grocery shop.

Quality
Taste of ketup varies with the selection of raw material. Desi or local varieties are better choice than the improved ones for sauce or ketchup preparation. You need to exercise care in selecting tomatoes. Green and unripe tomatoes also affect quality and appearance of the sauce and hence need be removed from the lot to avoid discoloration of the sauce. Fresh ripe tomatoes are good for tasty sauce preparation.

Cleaning
Thorough washing is must to remove the dust and other contaminants from the skin (surface). After washing, cut the tomatoes into small pieces before boiling.

Spice bundle
A bundle of spices is made in a muslin cloth and cooked with tomato juice.Major ingredients required to make spice bundle include onions, garlic, pepper, mace, cinnamon bark, red chili powder and few pieces of cardamom. Quantity of ingredients needed to make tomato ketchup is given below.

Method for making tomato ketchup
Weigh a quantity of 1.25 kg red and ripe tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes after washing these properly. Avoid mixing of green or bruised tomatoes in the cooking vessel otherwise desired color will be difficult to obtain besides bad taste of the final product.
Use a thick bottomed vessel for cooking and heat it approximately ten minutes or till the skin of tomatoes begin to curl. Remove the vessel from the fire and detach the seeds and skin by churning and straining.

Making spice bundle & dropping in the juice
A bundle of spices made using a thin muslin cloth and containing finely cut and smashed small pieces of onions and garlic is dropped into the juice. After imbibing the spice bundle into the juice, a quantity of 30 g sugar is added to the juice. Juice is allowed to cook till volume is reduced to just half of the original quantity or less based on the desired sauce consistency.
Spice bundle is allowed to be dipped in the juice during the process of cooking.Remaining quantity of sugar and salt is added before cooking it further to allow it to thicken to sauce consistency. Vinegar & preservative is mixed and spice bundle removed before removing the ketchup containing vessel from the fire. Now ketchup is ready for transfer to airtight jars or glass bottles.

Project report on tomato ketchup
Tomato ketchup may be prepared at mass scale and finances may be arranged from financial agencies. As per the estimates of the project, it requires approx. 20 lakh annual operating expenses. Annual profit of Rs 3.80 lakh may be earned with annual sale realization of Rs 24.0 lakh. As a business model, mass scale production of tomato sauce may provide direct employment to 6 or 7 people. Details of this project report are available on this webpage.