Tomato Jam

My sisters and I are planning on putting up a some tomato jam next weekend. Before we invest a whole afternoon (and 22 pounds of tomatoes) to it, I figured I should try out the recipe at least once.

I had the loveliest afternoon doing it. A gorgeous, sunny day, with the breeze coming in through the kitchen window, a batch of bread rising on the counter, NPR playing in the background, and me shuttling back and forth between the kitchen and the den, where I’m working on a little writing project that I’ll hopefully tell you about one of these days soon. It was one sweet day.

As sweet as this jam – sweet and savory, with just the right bite to make it the perfect accompaniment to cheese, or as we ate it that evening, broiled lamp chops. Be careful with this stuff – it’s addicting.

TOMATO JAM

Another winner from Mark Bittman. He makes his as a small batch refrigerator jam, which will keep in the fridge. But the recipe is ok for canning as well. Makes about a pint of jam. 

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds good ripe Roma tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger (I used crystallized ginger)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Small pinch ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Red pepper flakes to taste

Preparation

Combine all ingredients in a heavy medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture has consistency of jam, about 1 hour 15 minutes. (No need for it to be too thick – it will gel as it cools.) Taste and adjust seasoning.

Towards the end of your cooking time, sterilize your jars. Sterilize the lids in a smaller pan.

To refrigerate – Pour into sterile jar, cap, cool and refrigerate until ready to use; this will keep up to 6 months.

To can – Ladle the jam into sterile jars. Wipe the rims, apply mason jar rings and lids and screw to finger tight. Process the jars in a boiling water bath, covered by 1-2 inches of water, for 20 minutes. Remove from bath, cool and then further tighten lids. Label and store for up to 2 years.

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More on Tomato Jam

• Marisa from Food in Jars, has modified the recipe a bit, but gives great instructions for canning it. (She’s also got a similar recipe to Marks, as well as a honey sweetened version that looks just as delicious.)
• Jen from Tiny Urban Kitchen cuts back on the sugar and eliminates the cinnamon and cloves, and is equally wowed by the result.
• Lucy Baker from Serious Eats ramps up the quantities for canning and eliminates the cloves.
• The Homesick Texan, not surprisingly, ramps up the heat w some chipotle powder and tweaks the spices.
• Acornometrics adapts the recipe for canning large quantities, adding in some rice wine vinegar and pectin, and using allspice instead of cloves.
• Relishing It does a smoky version using smoked paprika.
• Daisy uses the Tomato Jam for “a unique spin on the BLT”. Now that I have to try!