Aunt Katrina’s Kat-Chup, Michigan Flavors Unite in this Small-Batch Condiment
Aunt Katrina’s Kat-Chup is bringing a new feeling to the world of condiments. Produced using ripe tomatoes and Michigan-based ingredients, Kat-Chup is a zingy sweet and savory sauce just right to complement your summer grilling—hot dogs and hamburgers— eggs, French fries and whatever foods you like to eat with standard, uninteresting ketchup.
For most of her adult life, Katrina Iott has owned and operated Aunt Katrina’s Organic Tomatoes, her family farm in Petersburg, MI. Recently she acquired Beau Bien Fine Foods in Detroit’s Eastern Market, where she is now producing Kat-Chup, in addition to the jams, sauces and chutneys that have been made with her farm’s produce for more than 10 years.
The first official Kat-Chup iteration was unveiled in the fall of 2019. Iott harvested more than 2,000 pounds of her farm’s Roma tomatoes to produce the first batch. Iott relies on Michigan Farm to Freezer to store excess tomatoes since it’s nearly impossible to turn a metric ton of ripe tomatoes into sauce quickly enough.
Iott says Farm to Freezer is only a wintertime solution. “During the summer, we will transport ripe tomatoes directly to Detroit to be turned into Kat-Chup.”
The Kat-Chup sauce is based on a family recipe that has been passed down for generations.
“The inspiration is from my grandmother, who would make this sauce all the time at home,” says Iott. “Now it’s just my version of something like a chili sauce.”
Chef Seth High of SheWolf Pastificio & Bar and Chef John Wesley of Toledo’s Rouge Bistro have helped Iott refine the recipe, too.
She starts with ripe tomatoes. They transport freshly harvested Roma tomatoes from the farm to Detroit, where they are washed and placed whole and unpeeled onto sheet pans. Then they roast them at 425° until they are soft and mushy. Iott currently uses Detroit’s Edibles Rex catering company to roast all the tomatoes since commercial ovens are not yet available at Beau Bien.
“We have plans to install commercial ovens in the future, but for now we will rely on the services of Edibles Rex,” Iott explains.
Once the tomatoes are hot and oozing juices, they transport them to Beau Bien to begin the second step in their transformation. Here they place them in copper pots and simmer them down to a chunky paste. Jalapenos from Gaier Farms in Armada, MI, are chopped and added, along with onions from Ruhlig Farms in Carleton, MI. They finish Kat-Chup by sprinkling Chef Laura Romito’s HIGH 5 organic salt and seasoning blend on top as it simmers and thickens. When the right texture is achieved, they test the sauce for proper pH and scoop it into 7-ounce glass jars featuring a caricature of Katrina Iott smiling on the labels.
Iott says that Kat-Chup has a blend of savory and sweet flavors that complement pastas, pizzas, eggs, potatoes and more. Since it contains no preservatives, Kat-Chup does need to be refrigerated after opening. Unopened, it is shelf stable for a year. Currently, you can buy it at Beau Bien in Eastern Market, and soon it will be available at local Detroit grocers.
“Each batch is small and handmade,” says Iott. “Everything is harvested ripe and prepared fresh. I wouldn’t do it any other way.”
Kat-Chup
by Aunt Katrina’s Organic Tomatoes
KatrinasOrganicTomatoes.com
