Recipe: Sweet Cherry Ketchup/BBQ sauce

[neotoma]

Sweet Cherry Ketchup/BBQ Sauce -- from Saveur, 28 August 2013

Ingredients
2 1⁄2 lb. cherries, pitted
1⁄2 cup apple cider vinegar (or 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 1/4 cup hickory vinegar)
1⁄2 cup honey (Killer Bee from Bee Folks)
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1⁄2 tbsp. freshly grated ginger
1 tsp. salt
1⁄4 tsp. cayenne
1⁄4 tsp. granulated garlic (I used half Max's Vampire Slayer and half grocery story granulated garlic)
1⁄4 tsp. ground cloves
1⁄2 cinnamon stick
1⁄2 lemon, zested (or 1 small lime, zested)


Instructions

1. Combine the cherries, vinegar, honey, and brown sugar in a 6-qt. saucepan and stir to combine. Place over high heat and bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 25 minutes, until the fruit is soft.


2. Remove from the heat and purée; return mixture to the saucepan and add the ginger, salt, cayenne, garlic, cloves, cinnamon stick, and lemon zest. Cook, stirring regularly, for an additional 1 hour 15 minutes, until thickened (remembering that it will thicken more as it cools). Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.


3. To store, pour ketchup into a heatproof container, cool and refrigerate. For longer storage, funnel hot ketchup into clean, warm mason jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes. Ketchup will keep for 3–4 weeks in the refrigerator. Processed in mason jars, unopened jars will keep up to a year on the pantry shelf.

Yield 3 to 4 half-pint jars; I got 3 half-pint jars and 1 quarter-pint jar today. ellen_fremedon informs me that this is excellent on tofu as well as meat.