I try to visit Kirkgate Market in Leeds at least 3 times a year. I do this to get cut priced fruit and veg for preserving. It is so worth the trip and even including bus and taxi fares or petrol and parking it is still at least 3/4’s cheaper than the supermarkets for the produce.

This particular trip I managed to get 4 x 2.5Kg Trays of mushrooms for £1 each. Were they are their best? … No they were not… Where they edible still ? … Of course they were… Were they perfect for preserving in different ways? … Absolutely!!! This particular way I made go 2 ways because I can’t stand waste of any kind especially food waste.

I used 2.5Kg mushrooms for £1 the rest of the ingredients probably cost me around £3 total. The electric cost me around 50p at the time of making. That’s a grand total of £3.50 for my versions which made 850ml Mushroom Ketchup and 250g of Spiced Mushroom Powder.

The best store bought equivalents cost £2.10 – £2.50 for 190ml of Mushroom Ketchup (depending where you shop) it is also a brand I have used happily many many times over the years and would again should I need to … and yes I have a bottle in my cupboard right now.

For a premium mushroom seasoning powder you are looking at between £2.99 – £8.87 depending where you shop for 200g. Although a great product which I have used in the past it does contain a couple of questionable ingredients that don’t appear in ours. Basically ours was a waste product made dehydrating the solids from the ketchup making. Sure there was the use of the dehydrator but when I made it our solar panels were in full swing so basically cost us nothing. It is possible also to air dry the solids and of course if you do use grid electric I don’t know how much your dehydrator uses but I know ours used to cost around £10 a day.

So once all our calculations are done we have made a £11.39 – £30 including costs of energy savings. I can’t be angry with that at all frankly.

Oh and here’s some fun facts Mushroom Ketchup is the mother of Worcestershire Sauce. It was able to be made at home by everyone and in general it was even though there were makers of it. Earliest mentions of it come from the 1600’s. Although it is believed to have originally come from China as Fish Sauce 2000 years ago and the locals here in the UK and Europe further from the coast made it using mushrooms as they had more ready access to them.

Back in the day “ketchup” was made mostly out of fish, oysters, mushrooms and/or walnuts. All using the same method and was easily bottled, popped in the pantry or on the shelf and lasted for months sometimes years. Let’s be honest if it didn’t last years we wouldn’t have Worcestershire Sauce today as it took 5 years to create the original.

Anywhoo let’s get on and here’s the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

2 Kgs Assorted Fresh Mushrooms

5 Tablespoons Sea Salt

4 Bay Leaves

5 Onions Chopped Roughly

2-4 Lemons

1 Tablespoon Mace or 1 Nutmeg Ground

6-8 Star Anise (whole)

8-12 Cloves (whole)

2 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar

2-4 Cups of Water (depending how dry the mushrooms are)

1. Chop your mushrooms up roughly.
2. Add your chopped Onion.
3. Add your salt and dry seasonings and mix through well.
4. Place a towel over the top of your mushroom mix overnight or for a couple of days if you need to.
5. Once left add all to a large jam pan which is non reactive and also add your liquids.
6. Simmer the mix for a good 30-45 minutes.
7. Separate your solids and your liquids and get as much of the liquids out of the solids as possible.
8. I sometimes leave mine over night in a colander with a bowl under it and a weight on top.
9. Either way squeeze as much of the liquids out as you can and add the solids to your dehydrator trays or baskets for outside and dry until completely dry.
10. For the liquids you have 2 choices you can either cook down the liquids until you only have a third of it left and then put in a bottle or you can bottle as it is and as it sits for weeks on the shelf it will mellow and settle and balance the flavours out.
11. Once your solids are completely dry add them to your blender and blend until they become a powder.

My powder isn’t as powdery as I might like it to be but thats ok as I will more than likely to use it in stews etc to bounce up the flavour. If i really need it as a really fine powdery powder then I will pop it in the mortar and pestle before I use it so I can properly finish off the grinding process.

Now if you would like to see me actually make this then pop over to my YouTube channel and watch the video here 🙂

If you do give this a go please do let me know in the comments below.

See you again next week

xox Big Love xox

Bloo