Ingredients:
5 cups pureed (skin-on*) nectarines (about 8 large nectarines)
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3/4 cup water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground jalapeno

Directions:

Prep your jars/lids. Place all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed nonreactive pot. Bring to a rolling boil and cook until thickened to ketchup consistency**, about 20-30 minutes. Ladle into pint jars leaving 1/4 inch headroom. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. I used my electric canner for this step but a traditional canning pot on the stove is fine too. If you’d like to skip the canning step, you can refrigerate the ketchup up to 6 weeks.

*If you do not have a high powered blender, you may want to peel your nectarines.

*The sauce does thicken up a bit upon cooling. You can place a small amount on a dish and chill it in the refrigerator (while you’re cooking the ketchup) to check the cooled consistency if you’d like.

Yield: about 4 8-oz jars

Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Here are some of my other favorite canning books and supplies.

My thoughts:

These nectarines came in a box with their furry cousins, the peach all the way from the west coast courtesy of the Washington State Fruit Commission, masterminds behind Sweet Preservation. I love nectarines so much. I look forward them eagerly every year and this year’s nectarines (both locally and from Washington) have been so juicy! I have canned chile pickled nectarines, ginger-cardamom nectarine jam, nectarine barbecue sauce and nectarine-apricot butter before but never nectarine ketchup. Clearly, this was an oversight on my part, you know how much I love fruit ketchup (and loathe tomato ketchup). What was I thinking? What was I going to slather on burgers and dip my tots in this winter? This had to be remedied. So I whipped up this easy ketchup that is full of spices (including dry mustard which seems almost perverse to put into ketchup!) and fresh, juicy nectarines. It is the hit of sunshine your burgers, tots and dogs need.