I love condiments. I like to think of my food as a convenient way to eat more condiments. One of the saddest things about adopting SCD was the day we went through the refrigerator and threw out probably 20 different kinds of sauces and pastes from all over the world. They all had stuff I’m not supposed to eat. Ketchup isn’t necessarily one of my favorites, but I figure no refrigerator is complete without it. So Diana and I adapted a recipe for homemade ketchup, making it mostly SCD-legal.

Mostly? What does that mean? One of Elaine’s illegal foods is tomato paste, and this recipe uses it. But here’s what I’m thinking… back when she wrote Breaking The Vicious Cycle, you couldn’t find high quality, organic foods, much less canned ones.  Tomatoes were always canned with sugar or HFCS, and you couldn’t trust that ingredients would be accurately listed.  I believe that this has changed.  I believe that if you shop at a quality store, specializing in quality, organic foods, you can trust the label when it says that the tomato paste contains nothing but tomatoes.  And so I do.  If you don’t, you can certainly make your own tomato paste, but I don’t have a recipe for that.  Also, if you have information I don’t about why canned tomatoes are illegal, I’d love to hear it!  So, without further ado, I give you…

SCD-(mostly) Legal Ketchup

  • 1 can high quality organic tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp mustard powder
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp cloves
  • 2 tblsp apple cider vinegar
Mix all ingredients together well, cover and refrigerate.  If the texture seems too thick, add water, a few drops at a time, until desired thickness is reached.  Flavors will develop over time.  Because it has no preservatives, consume within a month or so.  Add a few chili flakes or a dash of Tabasco for a little extra kick!

That’s all there is to it!  Enjoy!