… apologies for the poor word-play, I’m not feeling entirely myself…
Anyway, after a few days away from the screen, I thought I would return with my latest culinary adventure. You may recall that I had a surplus of mushrooms… I was just going to use them for ‘normal’ cooking, but then Kate Chiconi planted the idea of mushroom ketchup in my mind and the more I thought about it, the more interested I became in making it. So, after not finding anything suitable in my cookery books, I resorted to the internet and located a recipe that seemed promising here at Revolutionary Pie, which looks like a very interesting blog to follow.
The basic method is to chop up your mushrooms and sprinkle them with salt, before mashing them up a bit and then leaving them for the liquid to seep out overnight. The next day, you boil them up with a chopped onion, lemon zest, spices, horseradish and vinegar, then extract the liquid by putting it in muslin and giving it a good squeeze. The liquid is them heated up, bottled and processed in a hot water bath to preserve it. The solids can be oven-dried, whizzed in a food processor and used to flavour soups and stews.
When I told Mr Snail that I was going to make mushroom ketchup, he said that he didn’t think it would be as nice as tomato ketchup on his chips. He was much happier when I explained that it was to use as a flavouring for meats and other dishes (similar to Worcestershire Sauce). Of course, the proof of the ketchup is in the eating, and I haven’t used any yet. However, it was easy enough to make and it lends itself to experimenting with adding all sorts of spices. Also, unlike Worcestershire Sauce, it is suitable for vegetarians.
So, thank-you, Kate for the inspiration – I will report back.
The Snail of Happiness 
foodgloriousfood2016
/ August 29, 2017Reblogged this on Foodgloriousfood and commented:
Absolutely love mushrooms so mushroom ketchup yes please. Great post thanks for sharing x
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The Snail of Happiness
/ August 29, 2017it’s a pleasure… fingers crossed it tastes good!
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coppicelearner
/ August 29, 2017I will be interested to hear how it turns out. I have bought it in the past and found it very useful but it is not very easy to find in the shops.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ August 29, 2017It’s easy enough to make, so fingers crossed that it’s a success. I’m not sure that I made it concentrated enough, but I’ll find out once I use it I guess.
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thecontentedcrafter
/ August 29, 2017I am interested to hear about the taste factor. My parent, who was no great cook, served mushrooms cooked in water as a grey, tasteless soupy mess……… this came to mind as I read the instructions and I’m hoping your outcome is so much better than hers. I’m sure it will be, I just had to share the memory 🙂
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katechiconi
/ August 29, 2017Excellent! That sounds like the sort of flavour profile that’ll work very well as a pepper-upper of things. I wonder if you could thicken it to make a tomato-ketchup-style condiment. You’ll have to see what it tastes like. You could always boil one jar’s worth down a bit to concentrate it, and then thicken with an arrowroot slurry (rather than cornflour, which will make it go pale and unappetisingly grey; arrowroot goes clear).
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Nice Piece of Work
/ August 30, 2017Okay, I’ll bite. Send me a jar and I’ll give it a go 🙂
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quietwatercraft
/ August 30, 2017Well I’ve not heard of mushroom ketchup before you mentioned it. Does it actually taste like mushrooms?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ August 30, 2017Yes, it does, but with much more depth as a result of the spices
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Laurie Graves
/ August 30, 2017I am mushroom lover, and I am looking forward to a report on how it tastes. Keep us posted!
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painterwrite
/ August 30, 2017Hmmm…this sounds like a good addition to soup to jazz up the umami factor a bit. My grocery store has been having giant packs of mushrooms on discount, so maybe I’ll try some out. And don’t worry, you can never go wrong with a pun!
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tialys
/ August 31, 2017Interesting! I like the commercial version which is impossible to find in France of course but I’ll watch out for you to report back and perhaps make some ourselves.
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