krapgame
08-21-2011, 07:55 PM
Since there's been some talk in other boards about using sorghum as an alternative to other sweeteners, I thought I'd post some of what we do with it here. Hopefully others will contribute as well.
Generally, we substitute sorghum for molasses, corn syrup or honey on a 1:1 basis and have very good results with that. I think I also read that you can substitute for sugar or brown sugar 1:1, but reduce the amount of liquid by 1/3. I need to double check on that before I stand by it. IMO, while sorghum has a flavor that I don't particularly care for by itself, I think it loses almost all of that flavor when cooked with other flavors and actually acts somehow to intensify the other flavors in the recipe.
This weekend, we made ketchup with sorghum. I think this one is a keeper. Here's how we did it.
First, we squeezed Amish Paste tomatoes through the Victorio. The resulting juice we reduced down in the oven on a baking sheet into tomato paste. We just processed the juice by itself, but you certainly could season it as well. This takes about 6 hours at 300 degrees. Approximately 1 1/2 gallons of juice reduces down to a little less than a quart of paste. We then processed the paste in the blender to give it a nice, smooth consistency.
Now, the ketchup recipe
6 oz tomato paste
1/2 cup sorghum
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until smooth. When mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat and slimmer for 20 minutes, stirring often. Remove pan from heat and cover until cool.
This recipe came originally from recipegoldmine.com as a substitute for the name brand ketchup. It called for canned paste and light corn syrup, for which we substituted our paste and sorghum. Obviously, this is a small batch and would need to be scaled up to make enough to can. We'll work out the details for that and I'll post them when we get that figured out. If anyone has suggestions for how to scale this up, please don't keep them to yourself.
I 'spect the granulated sugar could be omitted, or could be substituted with home processed beet sugar or maple sugar without any problems. We've got some maple sugar that we made this spring, I think we'll try that in the next batch.
I thought it was cool, an honest to goodness simple ketchup recipe that can be made 100% (well, except for the salt) from what we can grow ourselves, that actually tastes and looks like ketchup instead of flavored tomato sauce. I know some folks don't prefer the taste of the name brand ketchup compared to what they make, but it is what we were raised on and old taste preferences die hard. Regardless, I think sorghum will substitute into any home made ketchup recipe. It might take a little tinkering, but give it a try. I think it will be worth the effort.
Generally, we substitute sorghum for molasses, corn syrup or honey on a 1:1 basis and have very good results with that. I think I also read that you can substitute for sugar or brown sugar 1:1, but reduce the amount of liquid by 1/3. I need to double check on that before I stand by it. IMO, while sorghum has a flavor that I don't particularly care for by itself, I think it loses almost all of that flavor when cooked with other flavors and actually acts somehow to intensify the other flavors in the recipe.
This weekend, we made ketchup with sorghum. I think this one is a keeper. Here's how we did it.
First, we squeezed Amish Paste tomatoes through the Victorio. The resulting juice we reduced down in the oven on a baking sheet into tomato paste. We just processed the juice by itself, but you certainly could season it as well. This takes about 6 hours at 300 degrees. Approximately 1 1/2 gallons of juice reduces down to a little less than a quart of paste. We then processed the paste in the blender to give it a nice, smooth consistency.
Now, the ketchup recipe
6 oz tomato paste
1/2 cup sorghum
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until smooth. When mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat and slimmer for 20 minutes, stirring often. Remove pan from heat and cover until cool.
This recipe came originally from recipegoldmine.com as a substitute for the name brand ketchup. It called for canned paste and light corn syrup, for which we substituted our paste and sorghum. Obviously, this is a small batch and would need to be scaled up to make enough to can. We'll work out the details for that and I'll post them when we get that figured out. If anyone has suggestions for how to scale this up, please don't keep them to yourself.
I 'spect the granulated sugar could be omitted, or could be substituted with home processed beet sugar or maple sugar without any problems. We've got some maple sugar that we made this spring, I think we'll try that in the next batch.
I thought it was cool, an honest to goodness simple ketchup recipe that can be made 100% (well, except for the salt) from what we can grow ourselves, that actually tastes and looks like ketchup instead of flavored tomato sauce. I know some folks don't prefer the taste of the name brand ketchup compared to what they make, but it is what we were raised on and old taste preferences die hard. Regardless, I think sorghum will substitute into any home made ketchup recipe. It might take a little tinkering, but give it a try. I think it will be worth the effort.