Tomato Jam
 

Tomato Jam...have you made it? Do you like it? Wondering if I should give it a try this summer.

[url]http://preservingfoodathome.com/2015/08/19/try-it-tomato-jam/[/url]

Yes raised on it.
Add more pectin if you want it to set up more.

Worth

Made it and loved it! It's particularly good on baking powder biscuits with a slice of old Virginia ham.

Barb, I just made this recipe and it was wonderful!! A very elderly lady asked me last summer if I had a recipe for tomato jam-she said her mother used to
make it. I just never got around to looking for one and I'd have to admit that
it sounded a bit disgusting. I do give her baked good so I didn't feel especially
guilty. It almost tastes like it could be any fruit-there's a hint of lemon to it
and it's very sweet. I probably put extra cinnamon in it and used apple pie spice
instead of the cloves. It's also a beautiful dark color. I did remove extra water
from the cooked tomatoes-it's a large pot intended for salsa. I can't wait until
my husband comes in-he wrinkled up his nose when I said I was going to make it. Thank you very much for posting a link to it.

Here's the recipe I use -

[URL]http://www.gratefulprayerthankfulheart.com/2013/04/grandmom-gaskills-tomato-jam.html[/URL]

There used to be a really simple 'Strawberry jam" recipe that used tomatoes, boiling water and strawberry jello. I know its not what we are talking about here but it was neat to make with kids because you did the toms in the blender and so the choped seeds looked kind of like strawberry jam seeds. I couldn't find that recipe, though. While looking I did, however, find an article in the Boston Globe with 7 tomato jam recipes so I will add it now: [url]https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2013/09/28/tomato-jam-recipes/svCpl6lhqBlopuPf5ACwtJ/story.html[/url].
Thanks for posting that recipe at the top. I am going to try it for sure (assuming my tomatoes actually ripen this year!) Pete

Patty, this looks like a super recipe too. I'm going to try it as well-without
the spices, it'll have a much different flavor and will be a nice alternative.
Pete, can't wait to check out the recipes you posted!

I wouldn't mind trying that recipe but that's a lot of sugar and im diabetic. :shock: Barry

It *is* a jam ;-) I do make some low sugar jams for my customers (using Ball Low Sugar Pectin) and a no sugar apple butter, which is divine. Some of my customers can't eat added sugar and some just like their jam tart instead of sweet. It's best not to make a low sugar jam with something that is not high in acid, as the sugar in jam does help to preserve it and prevent bacterial and bot growth (it binds the moisture and makes it unavailable). Tomatoes can be borderline, so that's probably why I haven't seen a low sugar variety of tomato jam. I will look at the new Ball Blue Book and see what they have.

I'll have to try that some time. Using water bath seems to be the default way of canning and making preserves in America, over here it is not so popular or well-known a method. Canning and fruit jam preparation is quite common here, usually without the hot water bath or pressure cooker - it is just done by the method of cooking and canning, and those preserves keep well in a cool cellar for several years.

Here is a tomato jam recipe I made last year. There is no pectin and it uses 3 1/2 cups of sugar which is a lot, but you could probably cut down a bit. It does take a while to cook and get to that jammy texture. Using a paste tomato will reduce cooking time, but if you use beefsteaks or whatever else is growing in your garden, it will take a good two hours to get that glossy sheen and thick texture. It's delicious!

[url]http://www.thejoykitchen.com/recipe/amys-tomato-jam[/url]
Amy's tomato Jam
Makes 3 pints
5 pounds tomatoes, cored and finely chopped
3 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup bottled lime juice
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in a large, nonreactive pot. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce the heat to low. Simmer the jam, stirring regularly, until it reduces to a sticky, jammy mess. Toward the end of cooking, be vigilant about stirring, as it burns easily when it’s nearly finished. When it is done, it should look glossy and it shouldn’t be at all runny. This will take between 11/2 and 2 hours.

Once the jam is cooking, the vital work is done. This jam keeps for ages in the refrigerator, so you can funnel it into jars, let it cool and then pop it in the back of the fridge. However, if fridge space is precious, it can also be canned in a boiling water bath canner for shelf stability. Here’s how that’s done.

When the jam is nearly done, prepare a boiling water bath and three pint jars (you can also use a combination of pint and half pint jars if you prefer). Place the lids in a small saucepan, cover them with water, and simmer over very low heat.

When the jam has cooked down sufficiently, remove the pot from the heat and ladle the jam into the prepared jars. Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

Preserved in this manner, unopened jars of tomato jam will last up to two years. Kept in the fridge, it will keep for at least 6 months.

I made two batches of that tomato jam recipe this year. It really is delicious. Tasty on burgers, and dresses up a grilled cheese sandwich. The yield seems a bit variable (the original author, Marisa McClellan, mentions this on her blog), so smaller jars worked better for me. It's on my "make every year" list.

FP, I put it in 250 ml jars. It really is delicious, and an acquired taste. But I made homemade ketchup this year, which was so long to cook down. Then I found a couple of recipes later that said to do it in two days, because it has to cook down, blend, cook down. All that to say, that it was quite spicy and not very different from the tomato jam except that it's smoother. Not making the jam this year as not everyone liked it as much as I did!

hmm, just seen this thread. Thanks for posting!
I still have tomatoes to try. Will have to modify though. I do not use sugar much.
Did organic upick raspberries jam with honey and lemon, came out outstanding. Thinking I can sub sugar for a bit of honey...
I do use pomona pectin if I have to.
Have been getting fairly thick sauce if I cut tomatoes in halves, mash it down some and heat for about 15 minutes. Then let it cool and put them into sieve. Collected juice goes into soup base jar. By that time skin peels off real easy and bit of blending does make nice thick sauce with no long cooking. My pH paper never goes above 4.1 so am not sure about all those issues with tomatoes being a problem for canning without additives.

I bet honey would work great. There's actually a version of the recipe that uses 2.5 c of honey in place of the sugar: [url]http://foodinjars.com/2013/09/classic-tomato-jam-sweetened-honey/[/url]
I didn't try this variation, but it's on my list for next year.

I bet Steens Syrup would be a good refined sugar replacement and more than likely what traditional tomato jam was sweetened with.
Steens cane syrup is sugar cane juice cooked down and is all natural.
I keep it at the house all of the time.
If you have never had pure cane syrup before go buy some you are in for a real treat.
I was raised on it.
I haven't had good tomato or fig preserves since I left home.
My moms was caramelized a wee bit.
The stuff in the store tastes like something McDonald's would sell.

Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;507103]I bet Steens Syrup would be a good refined sugar replacement and more than likely what traditional tomato jam was sweetened with.
Steens cane syrup is sugar cane juice cooked down and is all natural.
I keep it at the house all of the time.
If you have never had pure cane syrup before go buy some you are in for a real treat.
I was raised on it.
I haven't had good tomato or fig preserves since I left home.
My moms was caramelized a wee bit.
The stuff in the store tastes like something McDonald's would sell.

Worth[/QUOTE]
This is my favourite :
[url]http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/our-story/[/url]

[QUOTE=Zenbaas;507104]This is my favourite :
[URL]http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/our-story/[/URL][/QUOTE]

Yep pretty much the same products.
I have asked dozens of people from the northern or western US and they have sworn they have no idea what this stuff is and have never heard of any of it.
Not even molasses or dark treacle as you would call it.

What happened?:(

Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;507105]Yep pretty much the same products.
I have asked dozens of people from the northern or western US and they have sworn they have no idea what this stuff is and have never heard of any of it.
Not even molasses or dark treacle as you would call it.

What happened?:(

Worth[/QUOTE]
I grew up on Lyles syrup but also got a mouth full of molasses every morning from my mom because it is "good" for you :D It's a taste you never really forget.

[QUOTE=Zenbaas;507106]I grew up on Lyles syrup but also got a mouth full of molasses every morning from my mom because it is "good" for you :D It's a taste you never really forget.[/QUOTE]

Molasses is a super food and should be part of everyone's daily intake.
Three of the things I got to eat and drink when growing up was red wine coffee and molasses.
Our well water was high in minerals like iron and calcium.
We ate cold tomatoes and macaroni almost every day of the year.
My after school snack was a hot pepper and jam sandwich, every day.
After that I would go outside and split wood for the stove while my mom and dad fed the rabbits, pigs and chickens.
Then it was off with my dad to feed the cows while my mother cooked supper.

Then there was the jam and preserve trading that went on.
We might put up 50 pints of tomato preserves but only eat 25.
The other 25 would be traded for something we didn't put up or do like wine or something else.
It wasn't even what you would call a trade it was more like a giving.
You would give and you would get something back later.

Worth

I've never heard of that kind of syrup. Is it a Southern thing? Would love to be involved in a trading/barter situation. There is so much produce in the summer here that people pretty much just give it away to anyone who will take it. We really are blessed with abundance here in Oregon, esp fruit.

I finally made the tomato jam that I posted here. I was surprised as it doesn't really taste like tomatoes, more like peach or apple pie jam. Thinking of maybe trying it with the low sugar pectin or infusing some hot pepper flavor into it.

[QUOTE=coronabarb;507125]I've never heard of that kind of syrup. Is it a Southern thing? Would love to be involved in a trading/barter situation. There is so much produce in the summer here that people pretty much just give it away to anyone who will take it. We really are blessed with abundance here in Oregon, esp fruit.

I finally made the tomato jam that I posted here. I was surprised as it doesn't really taste like tomatoes, more like peach or apple pie jam. Thinking of maybe trying it with the low sugar pectin or infusing some hot pepper flavor into it.[/QUOTE]


Barb I guess it is.
It is made in Abbeville LA this and the surrounding area is the home place of some of my best friends now and in the past.
Also one of the few places at the time sugar cane could be grown in the US.
Many of which worked in the Tabasco Pepper sauce plant right down the road.
Others on the sugar cane plantations.

Even in the Marines we stuck together and distanced ourselves from other people sometimes.
Mostly because we got made fun of for our dress and our ways.
It is very complicated.:)

Worth

Don't know why I all ways thought sugar can was such a common thing. When we go visit my folks by the coast we always go grab a few pieces of sugar cane to chew on. Nice and Sweet!

[QUOTE=Zenbaas;507132]Don't know why I all ways thought sugar can was such a common thing. When we go visit my folks by the coast we always go grab a few pieces of sugar cane to chew on. Nice and Sweet![/QUOTE]

I could go on and on about sugar cane and its history from hundreds of years ago.
In many ways it defined the very way we are today.
It is today one of the most economically important crops there is.
More sugar can is grown in the world than any other crop.
One of our neighbors when I lived in Oklahoma grew what they call sweet sorghum.
He would harvest it and run it through a mule drawn 3 cylinder mill in his front yard.
Then cook it down and sell it to the neighbors.
I know for a fact that I have eaten the sorghum syrup he made some 27 years later.
Stored in jars in the cupboard.

It was a sad day when I used up the last jar.:(
Worth

Had to look up Steens syrop. Ukraine produces sugar from sugar beets.
I do love molasses but adding it to cooking needs to be done carefully due to strong taste. I have a gallon unsulfured for my garden needs.
Happens that I got natural unprocessed honey from Altai Mountains/ Bashkiria/ at local store, anyone who grew on US honey did not like it, but it was a real deal honey opposed to sugar water fed, heated extraction US one. Go figure.
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ9aNC_SJg0[/url]

I was born in Florida...that's as Southern as I get ;-) I've learned to love greens since I started growing them myself. Lindalana, I have friends in a cold high desert part of Oregon who don't have much in the way of flowering plants in their parts. They do feed their bees. The honey I've gotten from them is very pale and no flavor. No me gusto.

Southern Florida is mostly northern and northern Florida is mostly southern central Florida is all mixed up.:lol::P

Worth

I have used molasses in a mixture for fertilizing tomatoes. Love the smell of molasses!

Guys I cannot express to you how good 100% pure Steens cane syrup is, either find it at the store or buy it on line and give it a try.
There is no comparison between it and corn syrup.
I opened a can the other day and cut my tongue licking the lid it is so good.

It tastes nothing like molasses.
You could call it the maple syrup of the south.:lol:
It is about as natural of a syrup you can buy all it is is boiled down cane juice.

I bet they have cane syrup fountains in heaven.:yes:

Karo corn syrup started out with no HFC's in it then they started adding it and now they have stopped due to demand and complaints from people.
Dark Karo has refiners syrup in it which comes from sugar cane.
Light Karo has vanilla in it.

Worth