6 Delicious Condiments You Can Make at Home

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If you want to save some money, as well as eliminate some of the chemicals and artificial ingredients in your life, then you should start making your own condiments at home. There is almost nothing you can’t make at home; it’s much easier than you think!

On top of eliminating some of the artificial ingredients in your diet, you will find that homemade condiments will taste much better since you are using fresh ingredients.

One of the joys of making your own condiments is that you know you are eliminating chemical ingredients, GMO’s, unwanted sugars (especially HFCS), artificial colors and flavors, and you eliminate more plastic from your life!

Making your own condiments is not really time consuming, nor is it complicated. You should note that the shelf life of your homemade condiments won’t be as long as store bought, but that’s because they are fresh and not filled with tons of chemical preservatives. So don’t make huge batches, unless you find that your kids are eating up all your condiments as fast as you can make them!

Are you ready? You are going to find that these 6 condiments are so easy to make, you will probably make extra and start giving them to your family and friends!

1. Marvelous Homemade Mustard

This is a great place to start if you are new to making your own condiments. Most people are just so used to picking up that little yellow plastic bottle of mustard at the supermarket, they never think: just where does that mustard come from anyway? Mustard comes from mustard seeds and this recipe is super easy.

Ingredients:

1 Cup of mustard seeds (you can use yellow, brown, or a mix of both)
¾ Cup of apple cider vinegar
¼ Cup of water

Instructions:

Place all the ingredients in a glass jar with a lid, such as a Mason jar, and allow it to sit for a few days to soften the seeds. The seeds will absorb most of the liquid. If they start to look a little dry, you can add a bit more water or vinegar.
Now put the ingredients in your blender and mix until you get the desired consistency.
That’s it! You can add a few spices and make this recipe suit your tastes such as 1 teaspoon of turmeric or perhaps you might replace half of the apple cider vinegar with white wine. Put your finished product right back in that Mason jar and it’s ready to go!

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2. Salsa

Unless you live near an ethnic supermarket that sells fresh salsa, all you can do is buy the stuff in the jars, but if you are a true salsa aficionado, you know that junk in the jar is nothing like real, fresh salsa.

Salsa might sound like a complicated Mexican side dish, but it’s only 5 ingredients and takes just a few minutes to make.

Ingredients:

5 Medium sized organic tomatoes (any variety you like)
1 Medium sized organic white onion
1 Medium sized organic jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (more if you like it hot, less if you don’t)
1 Large organic garlic clove, finely chopped
Juice from ½ an organic lime

Instructions:

Chop the tomato and onion into quarter inch diced pieces. Stir all ingredients together in a glass bowl. You’re done! You can add salt and pepper to taste. We left out cilantro because it seems to be a bit of a love it or hate it ingredient. If you love it, add about 3 tablespoons of freshly chopped, organic cilantro leaves.

By the way, if you like guacamole, you can add about 3 ripe avocados to this mix for some super guacamole. Pour the juice from the other half of that lime on top to keep it from turning brown.

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3. Home-Made Mayo

People were making their own mayonnaise long before Best Foods put theirs in a jar!

Ingredients:

1 Large egg (it is highly important the egg is of room temperature)
2 Teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
2 Teaspoons of Dijon mustard (or the one you made yourself from the recipe above)
1 Teaspoon of water
1 Cup of extra light virgin olive oil
A pinch of salt

Instructions:

Pour the required amount of oil into a quart sized, wide mouth canning jar. Add the other ingredients from the list.
Using an immersion blender place the blade directly on the bottom of the jar and pulse three or four times, then while holding the power button move the blender up and down inside the jar. You should have a nice, thick mayo in less than 1 minute.
If you want to use your blender, add everything except the oil. Using a medium speed, mix the other ingredients, then slowly add the oil teaspoon by teaspoon. Once all the oil is in the blender, you can turn it to the high setting. Again, you should have wonderful mayo within a minute or two.
This recipe makes just a bit more than one cup and will last 7 to 10 days in the refrigerator. Read also the recipe of no-egg, no-soy mayo.

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4. Tangerine Ginger Jam

Isn’t your mouth watering just reading those words? Although making jam is a bit more involved than some other condiments, you will love this so much you won’t mind taking the few extra minutes. You can keep this in the refrigerator and although it won’t last as long as canned jam, it’s still super tasty.

Ingredients:

16 Organic tangerines, peeled and seeded
6 Cups of organic tangerine juice
6 Cups of sugar
Juice from a 2 inch piece of organic ginger
2 Teaspoons of real vanilla
1 Package of Pomona pectin

Instructions:

Finely chop the tangerines ( a food processor will make this much faster.)
Prepare the calcium water from the pectin package. Put ½ teaspoon of calcium powder in ½ a cup of water in a small jar with a lid. Shake well, and then set aside.
Put the chopped tangerines, juice, ginger juice, and 2 tablespoons of the calcium water into a large stock pot.
Put the sugar in a separate bowl. Mix in 3 tablespoons of the pectin.
Bring the juices together with the tangerines to boil, meanwhile stir frequently.
Put the sugar mixture in and stir vigorously for a few minutes to dissolve the pectin.
Return the pot to a boil, stir the mixture a few times, then remove from heat.
Stir in the vanilla.
You can put this mixture through the canning process, or simply place it in jars and keep it in the fridge. This should keep about 6 to 8 months in the fridge, longer if you can this mixture.

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5. Pineapple Salsa

If you want a sweet alternative to hot salsa that works perfectly with fish or chicken, you’ve got to try this salsa.

Ingredients:

1 Small organic pineapple (find out pineapple benefits)
1 Small organic red pepper
1 Small organic red onion
1 Clove of organic garlic
1 Small organic jalapeno pepper
¼ Cup of whey
1 Teaspoon of salt
Juice from ½ an organic lime
1 Handful of chopped organic cilantro (optional)

Instructions:

Peel and core the pineapple, then chop it.
Chop the red pepper and onions into ½ inch size pieces.
Dice the garlic and the jalapeno pepper.
Mix everything together in a bowl.
You can use this fresh, as is, or fermented.
If you want to use it fermented, place everything in a glass jar with a lid. Press down on the ingredients to be sure everything is covered by juice. If there isn’t enough juice, add a few tablespoons of distilled water to be sure everything is covered.
Let the salsa sit at room temperature for three or four days, shaking it once each day.
Super tasty no matter how you decide to serve it!