Tim Chin is a professional cook and writer who has contributed to Serious Eats and America’s Test Kitchen. A graduate of The International Culinary Center, Tim has cooked at restaurants in New York and Boston, working at Rouge Tomate, Northern Spy, and BiSq.

Tim Chin

If you’re looking to capture autumn in a jar, there’s no better condiment than apple butter—a super-concentrated, rich, spiced, and velvety smooth condiment that hits all the cozy notes of fall. But what if we took that idea to its logical extreme? Enter our caramelized apple ketchup. The best apple butters rely on slow, methodical cooking to gently break down and caramelize the apples. Here, we pull a couple of tricks to speed up and maximize that breakdown and caramelization, giving us a richer, more savory, and more complex result. We start the apples in a dark caramel, giving things a jump-start both in color and flavor. We also leverage the power of pH by <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/tips-tricks-smooth-bright-vegetable-purees">adding baking soda to accelerate the cooking</a>, which gives us an even more caramelized, ultra-smooth condiment in less than half the time.To take this apple ketchup over the top, a hit of red miso elevates the savory flavors and richness. That sweet-savory combination, together with those deep caramel notes, makes this a stunningly versatile condiment.

Caramelized Apple Ketchup