Sunday, September 27, 2009

What in the World is Tomato Jam?

Tomato jam is nothing to be afraid of, although it seems that its very mention here on my blog has stirred up a bit of curiosity.  

I thought putting a link to Erika's blog with the tomato jam recipe would answer any questions about this strange condiment, but it hasn't.  So here, in my own words, which are very similar to Erika's words, is my take on tomato jam:

Tomato jam is a delicious combination of cinnamon, allspice and cloves, along with fresh lemon juice and tomatoes.  And sugar.  It's got plenty of sugar.  It is the taste of Autumn.

It is a jam-like substance, mostly because it is jam.  If you can imagine strawberry or raspberry jam, and then just picture tomato as the fruit instead of berries, that is what tomato jam looks like.

I wouldn't eat it on a peanut butter sandwich, but it tastes divine on a Triscuit with a little cream cheese.  Erika mentioned last year that it would probably also taste wonderful on a slice of pumpkin bread.  I can imagine that would taste excellent as well.

If you've made any other kind of fruit jam using pectin before, you should have no problem making tomato jam.  This recipe is for water bath canning.  I suppose there is a way to make freezer jam, but I'm not sure of the specifics.  If you think you want to experiment and find a good tomato freezer jam, I'd be happy to post the info here.

I hope I have clearly explained tomato jam.  I'm so glad I discovered it.  I think it will be one of the staples on my food storage shelf for many years.  

Isn't Fall wonderful?

p.s. This is the very first post posted using my brand new Macbook computer.

3 comments:

Erika said...

Perfect explanation! Now what is the difference between summer salsa and regular salsa? Just curious.

Shannon said...

Thank for the explanation of tomatoe jam. I figured it was jam, but it didn't sound like it would be good on a sandwich with peanut butter.

Afton said...

summer salsa has pears, peaches, tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro, red onion and spices in it. I haven't actually eaten it yet because it looks so pretty in the jars on my shelf, but I've always wanted to try it and finally this summer the peaches and tomatoes were on at the same time.