Notes From Marinda
Spicy Tomato Jam
I had a bowl full of tomatoes. I wanted to make tomato pie again but did not have all the ingredients. (Recipe to follow shortly!) However, I did have everything I needed to make tomato jam. After reviewing several recipes, I made a small batch of 5 half pints. It was a bit spicy but not too much. I put in half the red chili flakes one recipe called for. I brought it to my neighbor’s house for an hors d’oeuvre served on crackers over goat cheese. Just a little bit of heat –not too much. Delicious. I’ve made several more batches.
It’s an easy recipe. The cooking doesn’t take more than about an hour. That does not include the time to prepare the ingredients. Plan about on 2 hours.
3 pounds of tomatoes
2 Tbsps. chopped fresh ginger
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (or lemon)
2 Tbsps. powdered pectin
2 tsps. red chili flakes
2 tsps. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 tsps. salt
2 cups sugar
- Fill a medium pot two-thirds full of water and bring to a boil. Put 2 to 3 tomatoes in the water for about 50 seconds and remove onto a tray or cutting board covered with a linen towel. Repeat with all the tomatoes and let them cool.
- Peel and finely chop the fresh ginger and put in large heavy pot
- Squeeze and measure the lime juice and put in the large pot
- If you have a scale – weigh the tomatoes. If you don’t have a scale, you can measure about 6 cups of chopped tomatoes.
- Core and peel the tomatoes. Slice in half. Thinly slice the tomato half and then slice across the slices. Put chopped tomatoes in the pot.
- Add the spices and the 2 tablespoons of powdered pectin. Stir to mix. Note: I don’t usually use pectin, but tomatoes don’t have much pectin and instead of cooking the jam down to no liquid, this small amount of pectin gives the jam a little bit of jell to it. Because I am using powdered pectin, you need to add it before the sugar.
- Add the sugar, mix and put heat on high.
- Bring tomato mixture to a boil and turn down heat to simmer. Simmer until the liquid has been substantially reduced – so there’s just a little liquid left. You’ll know it is getting thick enough when you have to keep stirring as it’s starting to stick to the bottom of the pot. The photo shows the jam simmering but not ready to can.
- Ladle into half-pint jars, seal and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.
Serve over goat cheese on crackers. Also very delicious in a sandwich. Enjoy!
