How To Make Your Own Condiments

make-your-own-ketchup-mustard-mayo

I’ll bet that some of you make your own condiments – things like ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, relish, BBQ sauce, salad dressings, etc…

Basic ‘know-how’ in the kitchen is valuable for general preparedness – the skills of how-to make, prepare and cook foods from ‘scratch’. Not only does this skill set include basic abilities like making your own bread or hands-on creativity while whipping up your dinners, but how about making your own condiments?

For the sake of sharing kitchen knowledge for preparedness and practicality, lets hear some of your own recipes in this department…

Okay, to get things started, here are a few recipes how to make your own mayo, mustard, and ketchup…


 

Make Your Own Mayonnaise

Ingredients
2 egg yolks
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 ½ cups vegetable oil (you pick the kind you like best)

Put the yolks in a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice. Using a mixer on high, drizzle the oil directly over the beaters, only drizzle it in a small stream. If you just pour it then the mayo will not whip up. Stop drizzling the oil every few seconds and allow the mixture to whip. Keep adding the oil and beating until it whips up to the desired consistency. The more oil you add the thicker it will get.

Note: There are no preservatives in it, so don’t make too much at once (for shelf-life issues). Keep in the fridge for several weeks.

 

Make Your Own Mustard

Ingredients
1/2 cup dry mustard
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch

Dissolve mustard in vinegar. Stir in remaining ingredients until combined, and cook in a double boiler (to keep from burning on the bottom), stirring constantly, until it reaches the desired thickness (about 10 minutes). Pour into a container, cool, cover, and keep refrigerated.

 

Make Your Own Ketchup

Ingredients
1 (28-oz) can whole tomatoes in purée
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Blend tomatoes and purée from the can in a blender until smooth. In a heavy 4-quart saucepan, cook onion in oil over moderate heat, stirring, until softened (about 8 minutes). Add puréed tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, vinegar, and salt. Simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, until very thick (about an hour). Purée mixture in a blender until smooth. Chill, covered, for two hours before serving.

 
Do you have any of your own recipes for condiment type foods?

44 Comments

  1. Ken
    these look great. I will try them. Have never made my own. Growing up ran across the odd person that did, but not me.

    That mayo, I notice it has raw eggs. For those of us skittish on raw eggs, do you suppose it could be cooked as you did the mustard?

    1. Anon There should be no worry about the raw eggs, if you are controlling the egg from its being in the shell till you use it. Ask yourself a question in your lifetime have you ever ecountered a person or event that was the result of a bad egg, suspect that answer from most here would be no. I have over 50 years used often raw eggs in a home made protien shake and have never suffered any problems. Use the smell test when using raw eggs if they are a stinker throw it out.

      1. Only person I know of that had an egg ‘problem’ was when she used cracked eggs for homemade egg nog. The children took it to school the next day for lunch and all 7 of them got terrible sick as well as the mom and dad. Only the baby was well as she didn’t get the egg nog.

        Just be careful not to use old or cracked eggs and all should be well.

        I’ve never had a problem myself. :)

    2. I may be wrong, but my understanding is that the problems with raw eggs result from our egg handling processes. A “natural” egg has a casing around the shell (called the bloom) that keeps moisture in and bacteria out. In our wisdom we’ve mandated that eggs are to be washed and sanitized before they can be sold, which removes the bloom and allows all kind of nasties into the perfect petri-dish that is the egg.

      Unprocessed eggs should have a much lower incidence of any kind of disease.

      1. Lauren

        I think you are correct.

        I might not worry over a fresh egg (used this way),
        but store bought ones, “processed” and gosh knows how old…yikes

    3. I once heard on some television news or documentary that the average person runs across two eggs with salmonella in their lifetime. Almost all of the time, those two eggs were then completely cooked, so there wasn’t ever an issue. Is this still true? I don’t know. I have one recipe that I make with raw eggs–my son’s favorite dessert, which I make once or twice a year–and I always hope and pray that no one gets sick from it! My eggs are bought from the store, so I don’t have a lot of say in how they have been treated.

  2. My Spice Ketchup

    about 40 Paste tomatoes (8 pounds or so)
    3 medium onions, peeled and quartered
    3 cups white vinegar (5% acid strength)
    2 cups sugar
    3 Tablespoon pickling salt
    3 teaspoon dry mustard
    1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more if you want it hot and spicy)
    3/4 teaspoon whole allspice
    1 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
    1 stick cinnamon, 3 inch length broken into small bits

    Clean tomatoes, remove stem ends, then quarter the tomatoes. Transfer some of the cut tomato quarter sections into food processor and puree the tomatoes. Pour pureed sauce into large kettle. Replace food processor container and add another batch of cut tomato quarter sections and puree the next batch of tomatoes. Process all tomatoes, then in the last batch, add the quartered onions. Puree the tomatoes and onions then pour into kettle. Add in the vinegar, salt, sugar, mustard, and hot pepper flakes. Stir together.

    Tie spices in cheesecloth bag and add to the kettle. Simmer over low heat (stirring occasionally) until the tomato mixture is thick and has been reduced to half the original volume.

    Once the sauce has cooked down, remove spice bag.

    Prepare hot water bath, sterilize jars, prepare lids and rings. Ladle hot Ketchup into 5 sterilized pint jars, filling to 1/4-inch from the top. Adjust the lids.

    Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove jars and allow to cool for 12 hours or more.

    Yield: 5 pints

  3. We have made our own mustard before with a slightly different recipe than Ken has provided. We have also made, from our garden, sweet relish which was way better than store bought for sure. I have to admit however that we have cheated slightly when making ketchup and taken advantage of Mrs. Wages spice pack. It does make a really nice ketchup which we have canned and never went back to that stuff in the bottle. We have several approved canning books that provide recipes for everything from hot sauce, chili sauce, bbq sauce, and most things in between. You can pretty much make anything you want from your garden or farmers market while still being able to pronounce everything that is in them!

  4. Every time I see a recipe or info I want to go back to later I jot it down on an index card and put it in my file. Just in case the internet fails us. These condiment recipes will go in that file. I have made mayonnaise before. Very good. Haven’t tried the others but will. Thanks for all the info you put on this blog. Very good for everyday living. Anything made at home is so much healthier than bought products. God bless!!

  5. If you fancy the hot Chinese style mustard simply mix mustard powder with cold water…will seriously open up your sinuses!

  6. My tomato Ketchup; this is basically the Ball recipe slightly modified.
    I made this after receiving about 110 pounds of fresh ripe tomatoes last year from a good friend that had well over 60 plants.
    3/4 Cup celery seeds
    1/3 Cup whole cloves
    8 Cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
    1/4 cup whole allspice
    3/4 Gallon cider vinegar
    100 lb. tomatoes, cored and quartered, do not remove skins
    12 Cups finely chopped onions (Sweet)
    3 Cups of Jalapeno Peppers seeded and stems removed.
    6 tsp cayenne pepper
    10 cups granulated sugar
    1 Cup kosher salt
    Combine all spices and Vinegar bring to a boil, let cool, strain when adding to mix to remove the spices.
    Puree Tomatoes in a blender until very smooth.
    Puree Peppers and Onions.
    Dump everything into a HUGE cook pot; I use a 15 gallon beer-keg-pot with the top cut off. Add the sugar and salt once it starts to boil.
    Note; not everything fit into the keg, needed an additional pot for the beginning boil, then added to Keg-Pot after an hour or so of cooking.
    Boil on low heat FOREVER this batch took almost 7 hours to boil to the right consistency.
    Note; a lot of recipes say boil for 30 min, or an hour, they lie….. It WILL take a lot longer for a GREAT flavor and remove the water to make the Ketchup thick.
    Hot pack pint jars and process for 10-15 min at 15# pressure.
    I ended up with over 3 cases of Pints.
    I will NEVER buy Ketchup from a store again. This stuff is GREAT!!!
    NRP

  7. Yup, please keep the recipes coming. I have a #10 can of tomato powder that I bought several years ago and have never figured out what to do with.

    1. aka

      put a heaping spoonful in a cup, add boiling water stir, great cup a soup..

      add this powder to any kind of a casserole/meat dish, great flavor

    2. Add two tbl spoons of tomato powder and two tbl spoons of taco seasoning to two cups of water and a cup of rice to make spanish rice for your next Mexican feast night. Yumm.

      After you make up some katchup keep a jar in the pantry and you will find uses for the stuff everywhere. Learn to use your preps so you know what to do when the day comes.

      Cheers

  8. Italian Dressing

    1 cup of salad oil
    1/4 cup lemon juice
    1/4 cup vinegar
    1 teaspoon salt
    1 teaspoon sugar
    1/2 teaspoon oregano
    1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
    1/2 teaspoon onion salt
    1/2 teaspoon paprika
    1/8 teaspoon thyme
    2 cloves garlic minced

    Shake all the ingredients in a jar. Let sit for at least 2 hours to blend the flavors.

  9. Sweet Pickle Relish

    With a fresh garden harvest of cucumbers, onions, and sweet peppers, a good relish recipe will ensure that some of those homegrown veggies will be enjoyed through the Winter months. This relish is more than a hot dog relish and we usually eat it as a side dish. I’ve made this colorful relish for about 15 years (often without canning) since it can be stored in the refrigerator. Trust me — it won’t be left in the fridge for a long time, this is too good!

    Sweet Pickle Relish

    4 cups finely chopped or ground cucumbers (don’t use cucumbers with waxed skins)
    2 cups chopped onions
    1 cup chopped green pepper
    1 cup chopped sweet red pepper
    1/4 cup salt
    2 cups cider vinegar
    3 1/2 cups sugar
    1 tablespoon celery seeds
    1 tablespoon mustard seeds

    Chop all vegetables: they can be prepared by putting them through a meat grinder or food processor, using a coarse grinding blade). Mix the chopped vegetables with the salt in a large bowl. Add enough cold water to just cover them. Let stand for 2 hours, then drain, in several batches, through a strainer, pressing down to force out all the excess liquid.

    In a large pot, heat the vinegar, sugar, and spices to the boiling point, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Add the drained vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes. Pack immediately into hot, sterilized canning jars with 2-piece lids, leaving 1/4-inch head room. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Store the relish for at least 4 weeks before using. Makes about 4 pints.

    The Sweet Pickle Relish recipe is from The L. L. Bean Book of New New England Cookery, page 627.

    Every time I make this relish, I have only had enough relish to make 2 pints, not the 4 pints as stated in the book. No matter — I simply double the recipe!

    1. This looks like the recipe I use I think I got it from one of my Ball Books. It’s Great. I use Shredded chopped Zucchini also.

  10. This recipe was a favorite on my blog and it went ’round the WWW. It’s delicious!

    Caramelized Red Onion Relish With Orange

    My recipe has orange peel, orange juice, and the recipe requires more onions than many onion relish recipes. I figure, the more onions, the bigger yield, and with more decadence.

    The wine I use is Cabernet Sauvignon which is a red fruity wine. With the added orange, the finished relish has a rusty-red color, no doubt from the diced orange peel.

    8 cups sliced red onions (skin and outer peel removed)
    3/4 cup brown sugar
    grated orange peel from 1 orange, diced
    juice from 1 orange
    1 cup red wine
    5 T. balsamic vinegar

    Slice onions into very thin slices. Combine onions and sugar in a heavy skillet. Add diced orange peel (do not add white membrane from peel as this will turn the relish bitter). Cook, uncovered, over medium heat for about 25 minutes or until onions turn golden and start to caramelize, stirring frequently. While onions are cooking down, begin boiling the water in the canning pot.
    Once the onions have cooked down and have begun to caramelize, stir in the wine, orange juice, and vinegar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring frequently.
    Ladle onions into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Add lids and rings, then place in boiling bath.
    Process 10 minutes for half pint jars in boiling water bath.

    Yield: 3 half-pints.

    1. Modern Throwback
      What do you use this recipe on, in other words what meat dishes? It is used like chow chow on hamburger, hot dogs?
      Interested to know what favorite foods you like it on.

      1. We love to put a dollop of this on top of a bit of cream cheese that has been spread onto crackers or toast.
        We also like it on a burger and some mild sausages that have been grilled.

        This is one of those home-canned goodies that I add into gift food baskets, too, with a label and suggested ways to use it.

        1. Modern Throwback
          Thank you, this is a recipe I need to add to my card file.

  11. Ok time to get fancy, I cannot take credit for this one (I stole it from the net and modified it some), but have made it several times since I can’t get my tomatoes to ripen HAHAHA Thanks goes to; “Granny’s Chow-Chow ~ From Joyce Bacon”

    Granny’s Chow-Chow

    Ingredients
    •12 medium sweet onions (4 cups)
    •1 medium head of cabbage (4 cups)
    •10 green tomatoes (4 cups)
    •6 green bell peppers
    •6 sweet red bell peppers
    •1/2 cup kosher salt
    •6 cups granulated sugar
    •2 T mustard seed
    •1 T celery seed
    •1 tsp. turmeric
    •4 cups white vinegar
    •2 cups water

    Instructions
    1.Chop vegetables finely using food processor or grinder (I cut everything by hand). Place chopped vegetables in porcelain or glass container; sprinkle with the salt; cover and let stand overnight.
    2.Place vegetables in large colander and rinse very well under cold running water.
    3.Drain thoroughly and place in large stockpot. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over chopped vegetables. Heat to boiling and then hard boil 4 minutes. Ladle into clean pint jars which have been sterilized in boiling water. Seal with sterilized lids according to manufacturer’s instructions. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes, I like to pressure at 10# for 10 minutes.
    4.Makes approx. 8 pints. Let sit for at least 1 month before eating…

    NRP

    1. NRP

      sounds EXCELLENT…

      now, please also post in the tomato section, so when I have only green tomatoes this fall, I can find it (grin)

    2. NRP
      Lost the recipe for my mom’s Chow-Chow, but this comes the closets to what she made.
      You like spice, this is sweet and spice. It is a great relish you will need to look up this web site for the complete how to do list with ingredients. It is under “acanadianfoodiedotcom” by Valerie Lugonja. I would have written it down by
      it is a long long list of ingredients to make this, but so worth it.

      1. @ antique collector
        Found it, looks exactly like what I make. Slightly different mix but very close.
        Going to print it off and maybe modify mine some…..
        Thank You
        No wonder I’m fat (not really) HAHAHAHAHA
        NRP

    3. Well, it sounds really good. What do you use it for though? Apparently other people here have had it before. Do you eat is as a side dish or do you use it on hot dogs or hamburgers? Maybe a side dish w/ fried chicken or fried fish would be good. Thanks for the recipe though. Plan to make it this fall when there’s lots of green tomatoes left before the first frost gets here.

      1. Sorry, got another question I just thought of. When you leave the vegetables to sit overnight, do you refridgerate them or just leave on the counter? I wasn’t sure. Thanks.

        1. @ Vickie

          I set them in the fridge. OR if I get everything cut up in the morning I go ahead and make the Chow Chow that evening. Works well both ways.

          I like to get a small bowl and just eat it as a side dish with a meal….

          NRP

  12. My Dad acquired this recipe from my Aunt. She was from Germany. I’m not positive this is a german recipe… but… Its GREAT! Spinach, or Dandelions are to be used if possible. Otherwise, nice greens work.
    “Dad’s Hot Salad Dressing”

    1 egg
    1/4 c sugar
    3 tbsp cider vinegar
    3 or 4 strips bacon

    fry the bacon until crumbly/crunchy.
    drain MOST fat out of pan.
    stir all 3 other ingredients, add to hot pan and stir like heck until thick.
    *taste dressing too sweet? add some vinegar, not so sweet? add sugar.

    pour on greens and add thinly sliced onions.

    This is a great compliment for “Fish Fridays” with
    a cold cold cold glass of milk and boiled taters with butter, salt n pepper.

    Man ‘o’ Man… I miss my Dad. :(

    1. When I was a boy in the 50’s when the Dandelions first came out in spring we would harvest them and my mother would make this it is also good on spinach, bib (leaf) lettuce or almost any greens.

      1. We call it “hot salad” I guess the real name is “wilted lettuce salad”.
        I tried to find out its history.
        It goes way back.
        All of Europe seems to have their version.
        Some use salt and pepper, some don’t.

        Its still a great salad dressing today, and back in the day.
        I hope some of you on this blog will at least try it, and add it to your recipe boxes. :)

  13. I make several gallons of this every year. Great with fried fish or roast beef or any dish.
    PEPPER CABBAGE OR FREEZER SLAW

    Shred 1 head of cabbage (about 2 pounds)
    Sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of salt over it and toss. Set aside to wilt.

    1 Carrot shredded
    1 Green Bell Pepper Diced

    1 Cup vinegar
    ¼ Cup water
    2 Cups Sugar
    1 Tablespoon Mustard Seed
    1 Tablespoon Celery Seed
    Bring this to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Allow to cool completely, rinse shredded cabbage, mix in Carrot & Bell Pepper and liquid. Chill in refrigerator over night or place into freezer for up to 1 year, thaw and it tastes as fresh as the day you made it. Make sure if freezing that the liquid covers the cabbage to prevent freezer burn.

    1. oldalaskan

      truly you put it in the freezer, and it comes out tasting fresh? I had no idea…

      something to put on my list to try.

      thank you.

    2. I’ve got to try this. I think I will do a bag that is sealed via the food saver and see how that holds up alongside the regular freezer batch. I can’t imagine ‘fresh’ frozen slaw….Mmmm

  14. Ken
    this has been a great blog post/suggestions and such from the readers.

    Much good info, and also, good ways to save money/expand one’s palate. All good.

    Thank you.

  15. Golly, forgot to mention, Ken..

    that photo up above? Yours I presume?

    it too looks “good enough to eat”. Another to consider enlarging etc….

  16. Have any of you tried to make the honey mustard and come close to taste of Hickory’s? I am getting tired of trying to order it only to find it is not in stock.

    I used that mustard on steaks when seasoning the meat. It helps break down the muscle for a tender steak, wow, the flavor it out of this world. If you have never tried it.

    1. Can you elaborate on the “Hickory’s” name or brand. There are copycat recipies on the web for various mustard’s, deserts, foods, etc. You could web search for a copycat that may come close.

      1. Denny B
        It is the Sweet & Spice mustard that they make. I will check out the sites your
        suggested.

  17. My Honey Mustard salad dressing (I never measure so this is a guestimate)
    3 parts mayonnaise
    1 part mustard (I like stoneground)
    1-2 parts honey
    If you like more mustard, add more. If you like more honey, add more.
    Stir well and lick the spoon! Beach’n

  18. I rediscovered this posting in August of 2022 and will revisit this at a later time. Many great recipes here. Many thanks to all for sharing. Prices are going up on just about every thing right now so home made condiments along with basic, good food cooked and prepared at home will be key to fighting inflation for now. (as it was during the Carter Presidency 1976-1980. During Stagflation, we ate at home a lot and did not go out to eat much at all…few people could afford to at that time)

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