Banana Ketchup

Directions

1. 1
   Boil the bananas until soft and can mash easily. Peel and mash them up, or puree in a blender.
2. 2
   Make a syrup out of the vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and clove.
3. 3
   Combine the mashed bananas (should be about 2 cups worth) with the onions, pepper, salt, and vinegar syrup.
4. 4
   Carefully heat in a heavy-bottom saucepan until the onions soften, stirring often. Add red food coloring to make it look more like commercial ketchup, about a teaspoon or so. Beet juice makes a nice natural colorant if you don't want to use commercial dyes.
5. 5
   Wait for the mixture to cool off a bit after the onions get soft then mash up in a blender or food processor for a smooth ketchup-like consistency. You may have to run it through 2-3 times to get a nice smoothness.
6. 6
   If it gets too thick, add some water.
7. 7
   Heat the ketchup again, to a simmering point and pack into sterilized bottles with 1/2 inch of give at the top, while still hot.
8. 8
   Pasteurize by immersing the bottles in a large pot of boiling water for 5 minutes.