Tomato Jam

Today, I'm pleased to present a recipe from Ariel, which serves as a follow up to her strawberry jam from 2012. As I mentioned earlier, our cherry tomato plants have been quite prolific lately. Tomato jam is a great way to use them up while also putting them into something that won't go bad as quickly. The tomatoes for this recipe came from one day of picking. Although I'm generally not a huge fan of cherry tomatoes, this was an interesting and enjoyable application. It was very nice on a warm pita with a little goat cheese.

Ariel used yellow sunburst tomatoes, which resulted in a deep orange-colored jam. Other colors of tomatoes could be mixed for different colored jams. The main discussion we had afterward was about the sugar content. I didn't mind it, but Ariel thought it was much too sweet. I suppose the sugar does obscure the tomato flavor a bit. I tried the jam by itself on toast, as well with goat cheese as shown above. The goat cheese does balance out the sweetness. Dropping the sugar down as low as 1/2 cup could be a good experiment for the future. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb. cherry tomatoes
• 3/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Pinch red pepper flakes

Instructions

Combine tomatoes, sugar, salt, and vinegar in a saucepan or saucier. Cook over medium heat until sugar is melted, tomatoes burst open (releasing their juice), and the mixture comes to a boil. Stir occasionally. 

Reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking until reduced to a jammy consistency. This took about 90 minutes. 

Season to taste with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Allow to cool, then transfer to a container and refrigerate. The jam will thicken as it cools. This recipe filled about two small mason jars.