Tomatoes ~ Canning Ketchup

My first homemade ketchup is now in the last 2 hours of gently boiling.  Prior to that, it required about 1 1/2 hours of boiling before I ran it through my sauce maker.  I am so glad I invested in one.

 I know that ketchup is cheap to buy, but homemade ketchup contains no high fructose corn syrup (I know they make it without it too).  Homemade ketchup is made with our home grown tomatoes and onions, that I can rest knowing, are grown chemical free.  This is very important to me.  I can rest knowing that I can stock up safely, and not worry about how high grocery store prices will be next year.

Braised Cucumbers

(cucumbers before they were braised)

I used more butter for mine, as I had more cucumbers to use.

I did not have mint, but you could add dill also.