Last year's garden produced an abundance of tomatoes. However, I failed to make enough canned salsa to sustain my family ... even with heavy rationing. I used a considerable amount of the tomatoes making ketchup ... and then watching it sit on the shelf month after month wishing it had been made into salsa. We have a ketchup fiend in our home. A small boy that was not expected to survive infancy. He was not even expected to eat by mouth .. according to his GI doctor. But this mom decided to take the (MAJOR) effort to get food consumed the optimal way .. by mouth .. and finally off tube feedings. At age four the transition finally took place. In order to help things along, salsa was used to waken up his taste buds ... and ketchup was used to dip finger foods into to make them more kid appealing. This plan worked and today I have to chuckle as I often tell him NO MORE FOOD until the next meal. We have been trying to ween him from Heinz ketchup ... and then on to an organic variety ... and now on to mom's homemade product. Today was the day. We were out of Heinz ... and organic ketchup (on purpose). I sprang the homemade sauce on him this morning and told him it was BBQ sauce ... and that's all we have to dip his home fried potatoes in. I think a convert was made this morning ... and I can kiss the store bought version goodbye for good. Let's hope my eight pints of ketchup aka BBQ sauce will last until this summer when I can once again labor over a hot stove to make the little fellow a healthier treat to the big ag alternative.
BTW .. just what exactly are 'natural flavorings' in store bought organic ketchup ... I fear it may be some MSG type additive as it makes me break out in hives.Here is a good
website regarding the production of organic farm tomatoes. Although this is for large scale production, there is some good information you could apply to a home garden.
Picture ... Nathan .. my ketchup fiend! ... and possessor of an extra chromosome:)
