Tomato Jam is my jam! My desert island condiment of choice. What I reach for to add to sauces, dips, pastas, sandwiches. Cheese board goes without saying. It lives to be slathered on toasty grilled bread — with mozzarella or creamy feta, bedecked with fresh basil, drizzled with peppery olive oil. Wherever tomatoes belong, tomato jam also fits.
We are all truly obsessed — rightfully so — with tomatoes. They define summer in the most magical of ways with their plump fleshy bodies bursting with acid and sweet. To capture their essence in jam form is next level tomato-y deliciousness.
This recipe is one of the simplest and best back-pocket sweet and savory jams that I find myself making constantly. Even in the off months when tomatoes are sad and lackluster I can’t help myself(!) — I still make it and it’s still mad good.
The other players fit in so gorgeously — the shallots and lemon keep things lifted and bright while the spices deepen and concentrate the tomato flavor. But this is a flexible recipe. Feel free to play around with the ingredients. Sub in fennel, red onion, get funky!
Tomato Jam
Ingredients
- 2 LBS ripe tomatoes assorted colors and sizes
- 2 shallots diced
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 TB apple cider vinegar
- 1-2 tsp kosher salt to taste
- 1 tsp fresh pepper
- 1 tsp allspice sub Chinese 5-spice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 small red chile seeded and diced
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
Instructions
-
Coarsely chop tomatoes, slide veg with its juices into large dutch oven.
Add everything to the pot.
-
Give it all a stir, set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
-
Turn heat down to medium-low, and allow to simmer with the cover off.
Stir occasionally for 1.5 to 2 hours. The jam will be ready when the tomatoes have broken down, almost all the liquid has evaporated, and the consistency is thick and jelly-like. It will still be soft and spreadable.
-
Let cool to room temperature, then store in the fridge until ready to use.
Recipe Notes
- Instead of coarsely chopping, you can blitz the tomatoes in a food processor to a small dice -- this will make your jam less clunky and smooth. I myself prefer the big bits, but feedback from the people I feed seem to like it on the silkier side.
- The amount of time the jam takes to cook down really depends on the size of the pot. Smaller will take longer.
- If you're making this with less than stellar tomatoes, add a littlest squish of tomato paste to deepen the flavor.
- Keep refrigerated for a week or two.
Stay Curious.
Leave a Reply