Wild Mushroom Ketchup

Step 1

Crush or chop the allspice and cloves. Pulse the mushrooms in a food processor, being very careful to coarsely pulse them in small batches, as over-processing will give a cloudy sauce.

Step 2

Combine the ground mushrooms with the salt and remaining ingredients except the water in a stock pot.

Step 3

Assess the amount of liquid, adding some of the water to moisten until the mixture is wet and slushy (dryer mushroom like polypores may take up to 1 qt of water, where boletes and cultivated mushrooms might take half that) Transfer the pot to a burner and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and leave overnight to cool and infuse. Transfer it to a smaller container that will fit in your refrigerator overnight.

Step 4

The next day, warm the mushrooms and the liquid. Pour the mixture into a strainer lined with cheesecloth and allow to drain (you may need to work in batches. After the liquid has drained, squeeze the cheesecloth with a few handfuls of mushroom at a time to extract as much liquid as possible.

Step 5

Reduce the liquid until roughly 4 cups remain (oruntil you like the flavor, it should taste a bit like light soy) then pour intoa labeled container, chill and refrigerate until needed.

Step 6

The ketchup will keep for a long time.