Easy old fashioned tomato preserves is a simple homemade jam with tomatoes, lemons and sugar. Kick it up with a little ginger or cinnamon.
Do you have too many tomatoes and are running out of things to make? Salsa, Caprese Salad, spaghetti sauce, Pasta alla Vodka with Fresh Tomatoes are all great, but ...
Or has the weather started to turn cold where you are and you are worried you will have unripened tomatoes? Fried Green Tomatoes, Green Tomato Chow Chow or even Green Tomato Bread are all possibilities.
But, I just made a recipe that you may not have thought of trying before: Tomato Preserves.
That's right, a sweet jam made with tomato instead of berries, stone fruit or just about any other fruit you would normally associate with jam.
Serving suggestions for Tomato Preserves
Tomato preserves can be served just like any other jam:
- on toast
- biscuits or scones
- cornbread
- with a charcuterie board
- with a cheese tray
- on a grilled cheese sandwich or burger
- on crostini
What kind of tomatoes to use for Tomato Preserves
I used ripe Roma tomatoes that were on sale at the store. But here's the great thing, you can use any tomatoes. Green, yellow, red. Heirloom, beefsteak, early girl, etc.
I would stay away from cherry or grape tomatoes because who wants to stand around and blanch the peel off of a pound of those. Not me, thank you very much.
How to Blanch Tomatoes
In order to peel the tomatoes, put down the veggie peeler! Instead you want to "blanch" them: dunk them in boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute, then immediately into an ice bath. The soft thin peel sloughs right off.
Here's a quick video demonstrating the procedure. I use peaches in the video, but it is the same technique.
Tomato Preserves
Ingredients
- 1 pound tomatoes
- 1 pound sugar (approximate quantity)
- 1 small lemon
- ½ inch piece of fresh ginger or 4 inch cinnamon stick
Instructions
- Slice an x in the top of each tomato. Place in a pot of boiling water until skin begins to peel off. Immediately place in a bowl of ice water. Slough off skin and remove stem button.
- Weigh tomatoes and place in a non reactive bowl (plastic or glass). Gently squeeze tomatoes by hand or with a wooden spoon to release juice. Add an equal weight of sugar. Let stand for 12 hours.
- When ready to cook, place two metal teaspoons in the freezer.
- Drain juice into a large sauce pan. Boil until the syrup thickens and falls of a spoon in heavy drops. Approximately 20 minutes.
- Rough chop the tomatoes and add to the thickened syrup. Grate the lemon zest and add to the syrup. Cut lemon in half and squeeze juice into the syrup. Add the ginger or cinnamon.
- Boil mixture until thick for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- To test for doneness, remove one spoon from the freezer. With the spoon you used to stir the preserves remove a small amount of jam and pour into the frozen spoon. Tilt the frozen spoon over the pot, if the preserves pour off in large thick drops it is done. If it pours off quickly, boil for another few minutes and retest with the other frozen spoon.
- Remove ginger or cinnamon. Put preserves in sterilized jars and boil in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.
Notes
Until next time, happy eating.
~Audrey
Katerina
One of the best ways to preserve tomatoes! Thanks for coming and linking up at The Weekend Social. All posts get pinned in our pinterest board! Please be sure to come back next week starting Thursdays at 9PM EST on culinaryflavors.gr ! I hope to see you there!
Joybee
Cool. I've never heard of tomato preserves but this sounds very good and I love the idea of having it with sourdough and brie. I'm pinning.
Kristina and Millie
yummmm! I have the small batch canning recipe book and made a similar recipe. I was pleasantly surprised how yummy tomato preserves are! Love it on a toasted bagel with cream cheese! Thanks for sharing with us!
Amanda @ The Kolb Corner
Interesting. I don't think I have ever heard of tomato preserves, but may just have to give it a try! Thank you for sharing at the Merry Monday Link Party! See you again tomorrow night at 8pm CST
Bruce Brunow
I have been looking for a tomatoes preserve recipe for sometime now and this one comes closest to my dad's only thing different is that my dad would put a thinly sliced piece of lemon that had been cooked with the tomatoes and a half of a stick of cinnamon in each jar before sealing then
Susan Awar
Over cooked preserves. Tried the spoon method,would never drip off the spoon. Preserves ended up thick and sticky. I did drop a few drops on a saucer and it cooled thick. Stopped cooking preserves then. Bottled preserves. Was too thick.Tasted great! Wish I had stopped earlier.Used lemon,chrystalized ginger,cinnamon stick and a few cloves.
Audrey
Sounds delicious even if they were overcooked. I did the same thing with my last batch of orange marmalade.
Ashley @ Forgetful Momma
Well... I have never heard of this, but I am going to have to try this!
Audrey
It is a delicious balance with the lemon and tomatoes.
Randall Martella
When I was a boy they were in pretty much every store and supermarket and
'i loved them and devoured them by the jar full. Sadly they have become very
very rare. I strongly recommend them, and will have to try this recipe.
Samantha Carlson
Have been eating this for 70 years. My aunt made it every summer from her garden in OK and NM. Looking forward to making it myself.
Peggy Adams
This sounds very similar to the recipe that my mother uses. She got it from my grandmother. It is simply delicious! I could eat it straight out of the jar! Not that I ever have but maybe a bite or two. I don’t think she put the cinnamon in hers but it sounds like that would be tasty.
Audrey
I am anxiously awaiting my tomatoes to ripen this year so I can make some more.
Sherry B.
Omg I had these when I was a kid. My special Grandma made tomato preserves and we ate them on crackers. She used both red and yellows. Always a treat!!!
Don Stevenson
While the TV Show, The Waltons is only on the Hallmark website late at night, we bought a complete set of The Waltons compact disks and play them at our convenience. On one episode, Grandpa Walton ask his wife to make some Tomato Preserves...He ate them by the spoonful. Neither my wife nor I had ever heard of Tomato Preserves..so we consulted your web site and found the recipe. THEY WERE GREAT!!!.
MARYLOU GERMY
The directions call for the tomato/sugar mixture to set for 12 hours...is that at room temp or should this mixture be refrigerated. I've looked at several recipes and none of them say whether they should be refrigerated or not. My instinct says it should be refrigerated or it would quickly develop mold but thought I needed to ask. My mother made these, but I don't remember the process.
Audrey
Nope, I just cover them and leave them on the counter overnight. Between the acid in the tomatoes and the sugar I've never had a problem. If you are hesitant, you could put them in the fridge after the sugar has completely dissolved in the tomato juices and maybe leave them longer (just a guess). The goal is to create a thick tomato syrup with bits of tomato in it.
Ruth Hasten
One should remember that refrigeration was not commonly used in the US until the mid-1940's.. Tomato Preserves (not jam, no cinnamon, no ginger) was served on many a breakfast table from earliest days of America to present day. My grandmother basically used this recipe (no spices except salt) and left the mixture in a large pan overnight. Tomato preserves were my dad's favorite jelly/jam/preserves. . My grandmother never, never refrigerated Tomatoe Preserves. Her neighbor Sam Rayburn (if you do not know his name, google him) loved Tomato Preserves. In the early 1960s, Mr. Sam brought the Democratic candidate JFK to Texas. They had "dinner" (aka lunch) on my grandparents farm. JFK sampled the preserves and asked my grandmother to give him a couple of jars because he preferred her version (standard rural northeast Texas recipe) to the ones that had all the spices in it. Later, while in the White House, he wrote her, asking for two more jars.
Audrey
Fascinating! I'll bet the tomato really shines through without the extra spices.
Tadas Osmolskis
Looking at the recipe,I've crushed the tomatoes and let them stand with sugar. Later in the recipe, I'm supposed to dice the tomatoes and put them into the syrup. What tomatoes am I supposed to dice? I've already crushed them and let them stand for 12 hours.
Color me confused...
Audrey
In step two you just have to squeeze out the juices not crush or dice. If your tomato pieces are already small enough there is no need to dice again just continue making the preserves.
Mine were still in big pieces after I squeezed out the juice and let them sit so I just did a rough chop on the bigger pieces.
Gail Roberts
Grew up eating tomato preserves..my grandma always made it...recipe was lost after she died..finally found it ..one of my aunts had it..it is just like this...cinnamon stick was always in it..I make it evey year for my aunt & I...brings back happy memories.. Soooo good on buttered homemade bread...making it now..9/20/20
Linda M Backman
I don’t have canning equipment. Would it be all right to follow the recipe but put the product in 8 ounce jars and freeze them, keeping the open one in the refrigerator?
Audrey
The only canning equipment you really need are jars, an 8 0r 10 quart pot and some good tongs to remove the jars. But, I understand canning isn't for everyone.
You should be able to adapt any jam or jelly recipe to a freezer jam. I just checked https://www.freshpreserving.com/how-make-jam-and-jelly.html they say "Freeze it: Leave ½-inch headspace when filling jars. Cool, lid, and label. Freeze jam or jelly for up to 1 year."
Maria Roth
In South Africa we make various tomato preserves. Tomato jam as per the recipe above traditionally includes stem ginger or cloves. I use cloves and put pectin into the sugar, but traditionally we used apple pectin we made ourselves using Granny Smith Apples. Another favourite and marvelous with Brie or Blue cheese is whole tomato preserve. The best tomatoes to use for that are Roma tomatoes. The quantities are also 1 kg fruit to 1 kg sugar and the juice of two lemons. The unripe tomatoes are blanched then rinsed and carefully pricked all over. They are then placed into a solution of slaked lime and water, of course the lime doesn't dissolve so not really a solution, and left overnight. The next day they are rinsed and boiled until cooked, removed from the water and a syrup made using two cups of water for every cup of sugar and brought to the boil. The Tomatoes are placed into the syrup along with the lemon juice and some cloves and boiled until they are transparent and filled with sugar. Allowing them to colour slightly adds to the flavour as this is a whole fruit conserve like green fig conserve, and not a jam or jelly so you are not worried about the jam setting. Bottle in sterilized bottles.
Audrey
Actually, I heard about this recipe in the first place when I friend told me a South African friend had told her about and wanted to know if I had a recipe. I've never made my own pectin but always prefer homemade to store bought anything.
Debbie Martin
My Mom made a wonderful tomato jam and I wanted to duplicate it. This recipe was a little different but in a very delightful way. I love it!! I used both fresh ginger and cinnamon with great results. Thanks so much for your contribution to another delicious recipe!!
Terri
Just watched an episode of The Waltons where Jim Bob made Grandma’s tomato preserve recipe to enter in the county fair. I’ve never heard of tomato preserves so naturally I searched the Internet and found your recipe! Looking forward to making it with my garden tomatoes 🙂
Scott Johnston
Very similar to the recipe my grandmother used and I still make. I use a 5 cup to 5 cup tomato pulp to sugar recipe and drain off the juice when using regular tomatoes (not Romas). In my mix, I add 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves and about a tablespoon of freshly peeled and finely chopped ginger along with the cinnamon.