Nightshade-Free Ketchup

I'm allergic to nightshades.  It's tragic, really.  But I'm getting used to it.

For instance:
Yucca fries > potato fries
Cucumber salsa ≥ tomato salsa
Butternut is an adequate proxy for tomato paste
Mashed Cauliflower is pretty good

But I haven't yet found something that I like as well as kethcup on certain things.  I really like malt vinegar and other vinegar-based things, but haven't found the saucy-tangy dippable/spreadable that I used to love in ketchup.  I've heard about beet kethcup, which sounds promising.  Has anyone on permies made a lovely fermented beet ketchup?  Or another method you'd like to share?  

thanks in advance,
Beau

Taking the soul out of solanaceae since 2018.

Here's a good suggestion for elderberry ketchup: https://permies.com/t/120098/kitchen/recipe-making-elderberry-ketchup

Tereza says you can make ketchup out of anything.  That's an exciting prospect.  

But where to start?

since that thread, I've seen a few recipes for banana ketchup and guava ketchup.
Haven't tried either, but one of these days will!
https://www.thespruceeats.com/banana-ketchup-recipe-1806787

While I have not tried this:

This Ketchup is incredible! I will never buy ketchup again, it's better than Heinz and has no preservatives. I didn't use the white sugar and used 2 tablespoons of brown sugar instead of the corn syrup. I wish every replacement I have to use was this good and easy!

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce
1 (16 ounce) can pear halves in natural juice, drained
1 (16 ounce) can sliced carrots, drained
1⁄2 cup white vinegar
1⁄4 cup granulated sugar
1⁄4 cup white corn syrup (Karo)
4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1⁄4 teaspoon allspice
1⁄8 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

Process all ingredients in a blender until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Store in refrigerator.

https://www.food.com/recipe/tomato-free-ketchup-173780



Here is a product to try if you are so inclined:

https://www.amazon.com/KC-Natural-Carrup-Ketchup-Friendly/dp/B074Z76VYD

What about mayo? You can add whatever you like to flavour it. I like adding chipotle to it. It looks like that belongs to the nightshade family.


The ketchup we make has tomato paste, garlic, maple syrup, cayenne, fish sauce, whey.

Mayo has olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, salt, 1 egg yolk, 1 whole egg. sometimes whey.

What about using malt vinegar instead of the lemon juice. and add garlic,maple syrup and fish sauce to the mayo. Slightly different. Still a dip able sauce. Which In my opinion is delicious

Tereza Okava wrote:since that thread, I've seen a few recipes for banana ketchup and guava ketchup.
Haven't tried either, but one of these days will!
https://www.thespruceeats.com/banana-ketchup-recipe-1806787

Banana ketchup is great! Surprisingly similar to tomato ketchup in texture and flavor. The strong “banana” taste must get cooked out.  I have not made it, but we buy it in the grocery store. “Jufran” is common brand. It’s Filipino, I think.

jordan barton wrote:What about mayo? You can add whatever you like to flavour it. I like adding chipotle to it. It looks like that belongs to the nightshade family.

Not a mayo lover.  It's way . . . jigglier.  We use soy-free veganaise occasionally, but I use it very sparingly.  I used to work at a sandwich shop, and my mode for my own sandwiches was to add mayo to the bread, then remove as much mayo as possible with the spatula - then you have the right amount of mayo - just to add a bit of moisture, but otherwise indiscernible.  

Also, chipotle = pepper = nightshade.  You see how limiting this sensitivity can be!

Your ingredient/combo suggestions have my wheels turning, though!

Anne and Tereza, those recipes look great!

Not really simular but a delightful recipe:

I have a lot of rhubarb and am not hugely fond of sweets, so I make a lot of this ketchup every year.

I am very lazy, so I roast the rhubarb in the Instant Pot (do watch it, it wants to burn a bit at the listed temp/time), then instead of putting it through the food mill I just use an immersion blender directly in the pot.  Then I add the other ingredients to the pot to complete the recipe.  (I'm also suspicious of the whole canning thing so the jars all get frozen.)

I can make vast quantities very quickly, and the bf very much likes it.

That sounds like a good reason to grow  rhubarb!
I had only though of it as pie ingredients, so I never bothered...

Beet ketchup is definitely a thing here in the UK, though many recipes include tomato and chilli so wouldn't be suitable. This one is nightshade-free: https://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/beet-ketchup/
Though I am wishing I grew rhubarb so I could try Morfydd's rhubard recipe! That looks sooooooo good!

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:I have a lot of rhubarb and am not hugely fond of sweets, so I make a lot of this ketchup every year.

I am very lazy, so I roast the rhubarb in the Instant Pot (do watch it, it wants to burn a bit at the listed temp/time), then instead of putting it through the food mill I just use an immersion blender directly in the pot.  Then I add the other ingredients to the pot to complete the recipe.  (I'm also suspicious of the whole canning thing so the jars all get frozen.)

I can make vast quantities very quickly, and the bf very much likes it.

You are speaking my language!  

I love the simplicity of the method you describe.

I don't have a lot of rhubarb, at the moment.  I wonder if I can try something similar with sweet potato or squash...

Beau Davidson wrote:

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:I have a lot of rhubarb and am not hugely fond of sweets, so I make a lot of this ketchup every year.

I am very lazy, so I roast the rhubarb in the Instant Pot (do watch it, it wants to burn a bit at the listed temp/time), then instead of putting it through the food mill I just use an immersion blender directly in the pot.  Then I add the other ingredients to the pot to complete the recipe.  (I'm also suspicious of the whole canning thing so the jars all get frozen.)

I can make vast quantities very quickly, and the bf very much likes it.

You are speaking my language!  

I love the simplicity of the method you describe.

I don't have a lot of rhubarb, at the moment.  I wonder if I can try something similar with sweet potato or squash...

Probably, though in that case I'd increase the vinegar and/or lemon juice, as the rhubarb is adding a lot of sourness.  Let us know how it goes!

I posted a Blackberry Ketchup recipe here: https://permies.com/t/118809/kitchen/Blackberry-Preservation-Ideas#966219
However, as a substitute for Tomato Ketchup, it just didn't do it for me (it's great on cheese sandwiches though). However, in 2021 I had a bumper crop of a small red plum. It's a volunteer tree, so I don't have a specific name for it, but any small red plum that isn't overly sweet would likely do the job. I used the same recipe as the Blackberry one, but with boiled plums instead, and it absolutely does the Tomato Ketchup substitute action for me. Unfortunately, if you have to start by growing the plum tree, it's going to be a while...

William Bronson wrote:That sounds like a good reason to grow  rhubarb!
I had only though of it as pie ingredients, so I never bothered...

Somewhere, I swear, there is a thread for savory rhubarb recipes.  But I can't find it.  
--I make a rhubarb chutney, recipe from Martha Stewart of all people, that gets a thumbs-up from my Indian-German colleague:  http://www.marthastewart.com/348836/rhubarb-chutney
--My Afghani garden-neighbor is really annoying, but his wife makes a killer rhubarb lamb dish.  This recipe was pretty close, and sooo good:  https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/food-and-drink/recipes/persian-lamb-and-rhubarb-khoresh-1.3027878
--And if all else fails, rhubarb syrup goes very nicely with gin:  https://nwedible.com/the-rhubarb-75/

ETA:  I completely forgot I am drinking, right now, a rhubarb apple hard cider by Somersby.  I may have a thing for sourness.  We will not even discuss the redcurrant situation. :D

I was lucky to inherit a little bed of rhubarb in my garden.  It clearly needed dividing, and I really tried to give crowns away, but planted the rest around the garden.  It's a very lovely plant in its own right but I have sooooo much...  Seriously, if well-fed it grows 1-1.5 meters in all directions and 1 plant is plenty.

And for the OP, a previous thread on tomato sauce substitutes:  https://permies.com/t/84187/Replacement-Ideas-Growing-Tomatoes

Jay Angler wrote:I posted a Blackberry Ketchup recipe here: https://permies.com/t/118809/kitchen/Blackberry-Preservation-Ideas#966219
However, as a substitute for Tomato Ketchup, it just didn't do it for me (it's great on cheese sandwiches though). However, in 2021 I had a bumper crop of a small red plum. It's a volunteer tree, so I don't have a specific name for it, but any small red plum that isn't overly sweet would likely do the job. I used the same recipe as the Blackberry one, but with boiled plums instead, and it absolutely does the Tomato Ketchup substitute action for me. Unfortunately, if you have to start by growing the plum tree, it's going to be a while...

Every other year we have a massive bumper-crop of native sand plums - delightfully sour when under-ripe.  Maybe next year will be the year of sand-plum ketchup!

Jane Mulberry wrote:Beet ketchup is definitely a thing here in the UK, though many recipes include tomato and chilli so wouldn't be suitable. This one is nightshade-free: https://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/beet-ketchup/
Though I am wishing I grew rhubarb so I could try Morfydd's rhubard recipe! That looks sooooooo good!

Now is the time to go ask your friends if they're planning on dividing their crowns this year!  You can seriously start picking a couple of stalks in the first year, and with sufficient fertilizer and nice soil they will get BIG.

As pointed out earlier ketchup wasn't the nightshade based sauce we expect today. However some of the ideas suggested in this video may give you some inspiration!

The Weird Fruit Explorer on Youtube has a series of videos he calls "Will it Ketchup?" where he makes ketchups from all sorts of fruits:

Here's my recipe for beetroot relish that I quickly drafted up for a friend a while ago. It tastes really good and my family finds it is an excellent ketchup replacement. I'll post more detailed instructions (with imperial conversions) on my blog sometime.

Beetroot relish

Makes around 4 x 500ml jars

900g beetroot, peeled and grated or chopped
450g onions, diced
450g apples, diced
25g fresh ginger, finely diced, or around a tablespoon of dry ginger
1 teaspoon salt
600ml cider vinegar
350g honey

Put everything except honey in a pot. Cover and simmer for an hour or 1 1/2 hours, until everything is soft. Add honey and keep cooking for another 15-20 minutes, with the lid off, until it’s thick.

Put into jars and seal, use either ‘hot jar, hot lid, upside down’ method or water bath canning.

What happens to you when you eat nightshades?

Perusing through Michelle McKenzie's lovely cookbook Dandelion & Quince, I ran across an offhand reference to nightshade intolerance being linked to "calcium imbalance."  Additional digging & inquiry turned up this fantastic deep article on nightshades; it's too good not to post here.  The section on Vitamin K as a potential remediation is fascinating and hope-giving.  (And, contrary to what's usual for the web, I can recommend the comments section as being good, too.)

https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/food-features/nightshades/  

I will try some of the recipes on this thread.  I have rhubarb and (some years) a few plums.  My kids love ketchup but the storebought stuff, even organic, is just so sugared....

Beau, the rhubarb option sounds lovely, but it will be a while, before they're ready to harvest, again. In the meantime, if butternut squash is an adequate textural sub for tomato paste, you could probably use that in almost any ketchup recipe, and adjust for flavor with vinegar  &/or lemon juice.

For myself it started with tomatoes and blood blisters but quickly progressed into potatoes. I shouldn't eat peppers but I do like the heat and will indulge on occasion. So you can either look for cranberry ketchup substitutes which work with some dishes, or plum ketchup substitutes which I prefer or when neither fulfills that tomato role I make a rhubarb sauce that is closer to a traditional hp sauce. You're going to have to experiment. Also, you make not react the same with cherry tomatoes I find I don't react as much to them as beef stake varieties. Again, you're going to have to experiment.

I'd like to second Carla, butternut squash ketchup sounds really interesting. I'd like to try it.

Thanks for opening this topic. My daughter and I are in the same boat. I was diagnosed 15 years ago and my daughter just a few years ago. We have tried many of the ones available on the market now, but they are all too thin and doesn’t taste right. This was a great idea for a topic.
We have learned something over the years though. Asian plum sauce (make my own) works great as a substitute for BBQ sauce, and makes a great base for BBQ pizza. Rhubarb BBQ sauce (make my own) is also amazing. Both recipes are available from ball or healthy canning.
I use ginger and horseradish when I need some spice in my food. Let me know if you want my husbands nightshade free recipe for curry powder. It’s really great. Also, I don’t know if you already know this, but products marked AIP or paleo AIP are free of nightshades, since it refers to the auto immune protocol, which is a diet meant to reduce inflammation. AIP diet contains no nightshades. I found some great spice mixes that way, and finally a broth I can buy that doesn’t make me sick. While I do make my own broth, we go through so much that I can’t keep up, so I buy the AIP version of it.
As for potatoes. Sweet potatoes isn’t in the nightshade family, and neither is kohlrabi. Both of those make delicious French fries. Japanese sweet potatoes is what I mostly use as a substitute for potatoes, since they aren’t as sweet as other types of sweet potatoes are. It makes a great mash, fries and gratin.

This may qualify as unsolicited advice, but I’ve recently stumbled upon this guy Anthony William aka the Medical medium, and he’s helped soooooo many people overcome all types of illnesses from allergies to thyroid issuse, auto immune, lyme, etc. he focuses on plant foods to cleanse heavy metals, pathogens, viruses…

Honestly, he’s a little wooey and far out for my taste sometimes (and I would consider myself very alternative and holistic) but I’ve actually started feeling lots better physically since I’ve been following his work, albeit, not too strictly.

I guess the bottom line that I come down to is that detoxing and plants probably can’t hurt! And his cleanses aren’t as extreme as some of the Apple cider vinegar or Epsom salt cleanses or whatever that are out there. I’ve really been enjoying a heavy metal detox smoothie that has wild blueberries, a few different kinds of seaweed, cilantro and barley grass and some other stuff . I have a little baby boy and keeping us both safe and healthy from a preventative standpoint is very important to me this type of diet is also very gentle for children.

Anyways! Hope this helps!

You already have some great responses, so I'll add a little bit more tangential one.

Balsamic vinegar.

Some varieties of balsamic are nearly as thick as ketchup and they have a different but similar acidic punch. I wouldn't slather it all over my sweet potato fries, but a few drops or a light dip would do a different but similarly wonderful thing to what you ate it on.

Alternatively you could build a new condiment from balsamic and get the PEP BB for it if you don't already have it.

Hey!

We currently live in Georgia, Asia, and here they make a beautiful sauce named Tkemali, from a kind of small, sour plum. There are different varieties of this plum, and the sauce is very ketchup like. I guess you can use all kinds of plums, even unripe ones are commonly used.

Here's what a quick search gave me: https://happykitchen.rocks/tkemali-georgian-plum-sauce-khmeli-suneli-seasoning-recipe/

Good luck trying out all the different options! Looks like there should be something that suits your taste!

With love from the Caucasus

Make Ketchup instead?  Originally that which was called ketchup had no tomatoes.

Have heard of using Haws in a pinch.  Probably from the river cottage jam book.

This comes from the Feingold program. The taste is not too bad - my grandsons liked it.

First you make the un-tomato sauce
Un-tomato sauce
makes approximately 4 cups
1 can (15-ounces) beets, drained well
2 cans (15-ounces) carrots, drained well
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Puree all ingredients in a processor or blender until smooth. let sit in refrigerator overnight if possible, but at least for several hours. variations: on the next page are recipes that use the un-tomato sauce recipe in them.

Then the un-catsup
Un-catsup
makes approximately 4 cups  
1 recipe of un-tomato sauce  
2 stalks celery, diced finely
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon dried mustard
1/4 cup onion, diced finely
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 teaspoons white sugar
Add all ingredients in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil; reduce to simmer until thick. about 1 hour. strain sauce. store in refrigerator. freeze whatever will not be used in one week.

A friend of mine is following the AIP, and some other friends made him a fake tomato sauce from redcurrants. As I remember it they just ran it in the blender, boiled it a while and added a bunch of spices (I think oregano and basil, maybe). The taste wasn't too far off the mark from real tomato sauce, right kind of acidity. With a bit of experimentation in removing the "redcurrant-ness", who knows, you might even concievably make an unsuspecting kitchen test subject believe they're eating actual tomato sauce (mwahahaha...) For ketchup you'd have to add something sweet, though.

https://thecastawaykitchen.com/legit-nomato-sauce-aip-whole30/.

Here's a recipe for no nightshade "tomato" sauce, with instructions on how to make it into ketchup. The recipe may seem strange, but trust the process. It all comes together like magic! She also has tons of nightshade free recipes on her blog (and two cookbooks published) that are all fantastic.

Lots of recipes to try,

I don’t have a specific recipe for chutney because usually when I make it, I have a pile of peaches or other fruit, and want to use them before they become compost or chicken food.  At that point I search out several chutney recipes, and go from there. Eventually I will have a recipe for the chutney I want when I open a jar.

Chutney is a category of food, like jam, or relish or sauce, not a single food.  It’s versatile, so you can devise a condiment exactly how you like it, avoiding nightshades or just about any other allergens.

Usually it’s made with fruits, vinegar, onions, sugar and spices.

Many people consider ketchup a chutney 😊

Here’s a good article on chutney, which includes a few recipes:

https://www.thespruceeats.com/chutney-recipes-and-cooking-tips-1808079


A diet without nightshades sounds quite challenging, and yet I followed the link to the Weston A Price article, and think limiting nightshades might be worth a try.

I did AIP this spring - as already mentioned it is Auto Immune Protocol that includes no nightshades. It did help me. I have been able now to add some stuff back in. I like Nomato sauce with a base of either black cherries or beets but none of the ketchup or BBQ sause recipes really did it for me. The spaghetti sauce type stuff did work. Anyway, very interested in trying some of the ideas here. My go to blogs for AIP are Heal Me Delicious (fantastic grain free baking), Unbound Wellness and Food Courage.

Brandon Permie wrote:What happens to you when you eat nightshades?

I should do a dedicated post for this at some point.

Short answer: inflammation

Escalating symptoms include:
malaise
irritability
weakened immunity
joint pain
body pain
migraine
rash

Here's a company selling various sauces - clever name "Nomato".  https://nomato.com/  and here's a couple websites with home made recipes: https://grassfedsalsa.com/blog/nomato-sauce-aip-marinara/    &   https://healmedelicious.com/classic-nomato-sauce-aip/.   You
got me interested in trying it myself!  Thanks for your asking.

Red plums are a good substitute for tomatoes, especially if they are a bit under-ripe. I've made pico de gallo with them a few times, and it tastes and looks very similar to regular pico de gallo with tomatoes. Like tomatoes, the plums are acidic. I suppose they would make good ketchup too, if blended, and in that case they could be fully ripe too, I think. Good luck!

I feel so bad for you, Beau.
The tanginess of tomatoes is indeed very difficult to replace, and I must say that until I read your post, I had no idea that Ketchup had at one point been a fermented product, so used to the commercial stuff that we are.
So I started by looking at the origin of Ketchup. A fish sauce? really? with anchovies? Man, we sure walked a long ways away from the original recipe!
https://uwechonors302.weebly.com/ketchup.html#:~:text=Eventually%20Heinz%20did%20turn%20away,consume%20today%20is%20not%20fermented.
I love sweet sour sauce, which also has a tomato base and I did manage, with beets and maraschino cherries to make a reasonable substitute... But I kinda lost the recipe. All this to say that beets might be a possibility.
Certainly, the deep red of the beet helps you reminisce about the time you were not allergic to Ketchup.
This article mentions walnut ketchup:
https://honest-food.net/walnut-ketchup-recipe/
and mushroom ketchup
https://www.thespruceeats.com/mushroom-ketchup-recipe-1806791
Personally, I doubt that any recipe not containing tomatoes might fool your palate, so I like to flip the problem:
Essentially, what you would like is something tangy with the look and consistency of ketchup, with a big plus if it is fermented over being drowned in sugar, syrup and MSG salt.
When you pose the problem in that manner, I'm sure that permies, with the ingenious strike they all have will find something suitable for you. In the ketchup recipe from beets, I found this one, which sounds like the best. Certainly, she has the color and the consistency down pat. It isn't fermented, which is a minus, but because she uses a fair number of condiments that are also in Ketchup, she might also be the closest as far as taste:
https://celebrationgeneration.com/roasted-beet-ketchup-recipe/
Since I happen to have some beets, I just might try this one. If nothing else, I would do the roasted beets, which sound pretty yummy!