Earlier this year, I got the urge to try making mushroom ketchup.
I knew from recreational reading that ketchup or catsup has been around for a long time. In the 1700s, it was mostly what we now call Worcester sauce, and mushroom ketchup. As a kid, this never sounded good to me, but as I grew up I learned to like mushrooms. After we moved to our area, where many varieties of highly-sought-after gourmet mushrooms literally pop out of the ground, the idea began to make my mouth water.
The ideal: George Watkins Mushroom Ketchup
Recently, I found a recipe online, and gave it a try.
I couldn’t help but make it mostly out of our favorite local mushroom, king boletes. We’ve had a good run of them after the last rains, enough to prompt me to risk some in an experiment.
The resulting sauce tastes wonderful! However, I skipped the step of straining it through a cloth. I started to do this, but it made a big mess, so I called Michelle and Aly over, handed them each a spoon, and said, “try this!”
They loved it. We soon agreed that we didn’t need to strain the mixture, we liked the thick sauce just fine. I don’t know, now, if we can get away with calling it ketchup, or if we need to refer to it as chutney, but hey, my kitchen, my rules, right? (I did remove the bay leaves, though, which would have been removed by straining.)
Ironically, we now realize that, while we rarely lack for tomato ketchup in this house, we don’t put it on much anymore. We need to enjoy this fairly soon, or risk losing it, so we’re looking for things to put the mushroom ketchup on. Since we don’t eat a lot of meat, usually, we need to apply it to less obvious dishes. Yesterday, home alone at dinner, I dug up a few new potatoes from the garden and roasted them. I put a little butter on them, and the new mushroom ketchup. It’s delicious!
I do regret that the thick sauce needs to go into a Mason jar rather than a funky old looking bottle like the commercial product, but adjustments must be made, I suppose.