I used to have a fantastic coworker named John. He was calm in the face of chaos, had a buoyant sense of humor and knew how not to take things too seriously. And, his wife Amy just happened to be my kitchen soulmate. You’ve got to love a coworker who comes attached to good people.
Amy was the first person to introduce to me tomato jam and now I can’t go back to a life without it. She gifted me a jar last summer, with the recipe attached and I will be forever grateful. I use it in place of ketchup (with turkey burgers), as well as in places where ketchup wouldn’t dare to tread (try it with a soft, stinky cheese. It will change your life).
For those of you who are accustomed to preserving tomatoes, you’ll notice that this recipe does not call for you to peel these tomatoes. That is not a mistake. You see, I’ve made this recipe twice now. The first time, I thought I could improve on things and peeled and seeded the tomatoes prior to cooking them down. However, without those bits, the finished jam was too sweet and entirely without texture. It needs the skin and seeds, to keep things interesting. Don’t take them out.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds tomatoes, finely chopped
- 3 1/2 cups sugar
- 8 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon red chili flakes
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a large, non-reactive pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce temperature to a simmer. Stirring regularly, simmer** the jam until it reduces to a sticky, jammy mess. This will take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours, depending on how high you keep your heat.
- When the jam has cooked down sufficiently, remove from heat and fill jars, leaving 1/4 inch of head space. Wipe rims, apply lids and twist on rings. Process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes.
- When time is up, remove jars from water bath and allow them to cool. When jars are cool enough to handle, test seals. Store jars in a cool, dark place for up to one year.
Notes
*The finished yield on this recipe varies depending on the kind of tomato you use, the width of your pan and the finished thickness to which you cook it.
2010 yield: 4 1/2 pints; 2011 yield: 3 pints; 2012 yield: 2 1/2 pints
**In my kitchen, the word simmer means to cook just below a boil. There should still be a few bubbles, but it shouldn’t be splashing all over your cooktop. If you cook at lower temperatures, the cooking time will increase.
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[...] of this season’s first ripe tomatoes from the local farmer’s market, I decided to give this recipe for tomato jam a [...]
Batch 1 didn’t even get labeled and put away. Batch 2 is in the slow cooker. Plans for batch 3 are underway. All I can say is this stuff lives up to the hype!
3.5 hours on the stove later… my tomato jam is ALMOST reduced enough. If I had know it would be such an undertaking, I would have started earlier! Can’t wait to taste it, I bought some goat cheese to put it on crackers with!
I’ve made 2 batches of this tomato jam…….the first had a smaller yield, but I guess it’s because I kept tasting it!!! The second got 5 half-pints……and all with tomatoes from my garden and peppers from my garden too. This is the first garden I’ve had in 30 years and I’m so happy, I could squeal! My ex’s elderly aunt mentioned making tomato jam, and, while I’d never had any, I remembered canning tons of tomatoes back in the day and really wanted something that would use lots of tomatoes….so, I scrounged around until I settled on this recipe……WOW! am I glad that I did…….it’s awesome! My second thought was, what would I use it on……never mind, I’ll use it on everything….the first thing I tried was meatloaf in lieu of the glaze, then biscuits, then just on toast, and it’s great just for a nibble when you want that ‘taste’ in your mouth. Thanks so much for a great recipe and guess what I’m giving for Christmas gifts!!!!
Too many people haven’t tried Tomato Jam and I’m going to fix that for at least a dozen people!
My first canning experience and I used grape tomatoes. It turned out beautifully. I think I caught the bug. DH is bringing home a flat of strawberries tomorrow and my sister-in-law is getting me a lug of peaches. Yay! Thanks for the recipe, this one’s a keeper.
[...] Adapted from Food In Jars [...]
Hi Marisa,
Just bought tomatoes today to prepare for a tomato jam in my tiny kitchen this evening…however, I am unclear if the lime called for in the recipe is fresh lime juice or bottled/jarred lime juice? I have seen debates on several canning blogs on fresh vs. bottled citrus, and I certainly do not want to compromise my tomatoes. Thank you!
For this recipe, it’s acceptable to use either fresh or bottled lime juice. When you acidify plain tomatoes for canning, you always want to use bottled, but in this case either works.
Can we substitute lemon juice for lime juice? I have bottled lemon juice on hand, but no fresh/bottled lime juice.
Yes.
Wow, this is unbelievably good. My favorite thing I’ve canned thus far!
[...] Jam (yes, THAT tomato [...]
I think I’ll try this with the scads of cherry tomatoes I have.
I am making this for the third time this weekend! This recipe rocks. I brought it to a party last night and it disappeared. I am making it for Christmas gifts this year.
I just found this recipe and I wish I had seen it earlier today..I just got through pushing 6 pounds cooked of tomatoes through a sieve and I am now reducing the pulp from 6 cups to 3 cups….sigh..and I have to say it doesn’t look like pulp, it looks lile tomato sauce… I will definitely try this one next time!
I just made a batch of this and it is so good. I’ve been loving all the comments about what to use it on, but to be honest, I can’t wait to eat it with bread and butter. Thanks for a great recipe!
[...] –(Link to original recipe from Food in Jars – http://www.foodinjars.com) [...]
Made a 3lb batch last weekend and have decided a good portion of the CSA preserving tomatoes we get next week are getting the same treatment. Delicious!! I did notice when it came to the chili flakes I cut the amount in half after cutting back for the small batch and it was still a little warm for my wife (perfect for me). We decided the next batch will be a full 5lbs with the reduced amount of chili flakes. Thanks for a great recipe!
[...] found a lot of interesting recipes I might like to try , but this recipe for Tomato Jam from one of my favorite blogs Food in Jars sounded the [...]
I have this jam simmering in my kitchen right now. It smells soo good! It will take longer to cook down here because of the elevation, but that is not a problem at all..it just means I get to smell this lovely jam a bit longer.
I left a comment a few days ago about my 1st tomato jam. I hate it so much that I am actually considering just opening the jars & dumping it out…no flavor and no texture.
Your tomato jam recipe reminds me of the tomato jam my Gramma used to make. I used to eat that on everything! Thank you for sharing the recipe and thank you for bringing back happy memories of my Gramma, “Lolla”.
Ok, its done..sorry to be commenting all the time..LOL…it is wonderful!
It took 2.5 hours to reduce, but I only got two pint jars and a half of a half pint jar….did I do something wrong maybe?
Its not runny or saucy at all…I can hold the half filled 1/2 pint jar upside down and it doesn’t move….since I am new at this..is that ok?
Karyn, the yield on this jam can vary a great deal depending on the tomatoes you use, the width of your pan and the amount of time you cook it. It sounds like you cooked it a lot more than I did, which is fine. What’s more, when I cooked it this year, I only wound up with 3 pints. So even my yield varies!
Thank you, Marisa. I was so worried about it not being thick enough (like the 1st recipe I tried) that I went went too far in the other direction. LOL
The taste is so good! Next time I will trust myself to stop a bit before the cement stage. Its all good though!
I made this today. I was very diligent about measuring my tomatoes. I measured them on the kitchen scale, diced, not as whole tomatoes. 10 pounds of diced tomatoes yielded 21 HALF pints plus a wee bit in the pan for tasting. It took me 5 hours to cook this down to the “just right” consistency which i didn’t mind at all because this smells absolutely divine while it is cooking. Thank you so much!
Oh, I used a combination of organic field tomatoes and organic paste tomatoes.
yikes! sorry. canning late at night. i meant 22 4OZ jars! not half pints. huge difference.
Just made a batch, and it is delicious!
I also got 5 half-pints (vs. the 4-1/2 – 5 pints). Hmm.
This tomato jam is wonderful – it tastes like what my grandmother used to can in South Georgia. I am going to the farmer’s market and get more tomatoes today. I cooked it on low so I did not have to stay in the kitchen with it and it took 3-4 hours. I actually put it in the refrigerator overnight and finished it this morning. I used 6 lbs of large tomatoes and got 3 half pints and 4 – 4oz jars. I put some in the small jars to use for an appetizer or to give to tomato jam doubters. Thank you for a wonderful recipe and advice.
[...] got around to making homemade tomato jam, and I think we are in love. I can’t recommend this recipe from Food in Jars enough. Sticky, sweet tomato goodness with a hint of cinnamon and clove. It takes an hour + a half [...]
[...] Adapted, barely, from Food in Jars [...]
This is my second year making this tomato jam. We love it. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve got my first batch cooking away right now. I took a spoonful to taste – Wow; great stuff. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Just canned my first batch….WOW! This stuff is REALLY delightful! I ended up with six half-pint jars exactly. I intend to make more tomorrow; 4 oz. jars for holiday gifts! Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe!
[...] was certainly inspired to this jam by Marisa at Food In Jars. I had just enough tomatoes on hand, 5 lbs, to give this a try. I have been called a food snob. I [...]
[...] Tomato Jam via the New York Times and Food in Jars [...]
This was far too sweet for my taste, next time I would cut sugar down considerably. Depending on your penchant for spice, I’d tread cautiously with the full tb of pepper flakes. I added Spanish smoked paprika for more savory flavor, the cloves were a bit too strong for me as well. Overall with some adjustments for my taste, this is good. I canned in the smaller jam sized jars.
[...] Another incarnation of Amy’s Tomato Jam. Love the OX cheese, Krista and [...]
So excited, I made this tonight and the flavor is amazing! In Portland, Or out tomatoes are just now in full swing. I am pretty new to canning. I decreased the water bath time because I used 4 oz jars. This was based on somethings I read on other websites as well as food in jars. The jars sealed, do you think they are safe to store?
Love your website!!!!
Alisa, the rule of thumb is that you don’t reduce the processing time for small jars, you only increase it for larger jars. It takes 10 minutes in a boiling water bath for something to become sterile, and if you didn’t start with sterilized jars, you’ve got to give them that 10 minutes to ensure that any microorganisms are killed. However, if your jars were boiled for at least ten minutes before you filled them, you should be fine.
Somebody asked me on fb if I had a recipe for tomato jam (I posted on my wall that I was not yet done canning tomatoes. Of course, I did not, but the Q triggered me to search for several. I chose to try this recipe. I was able to make 7 half-pint jars from this recipe. While the taste was not what I expected, it definitely was very good, albeit a bit too salty for me, but then if I will use this for something like a glaze for ham or a roast beef, maybe it will be just fine.
I probably will make some more tomorrow and use more sugar, less salt. Then I can imagine using it on crackers with some cream cheese.
New to canning, Uh-Oh???
I have a batch of tomato jam simmering on the stove as I type, but now I’m wondering whether I’m in trouble… or not…
I used 5 lbs of chopped tomatoes. These are heirlooms*, subjected to a dry summer followed by drenching from (2) tropical storms, so I removed a good deal of cracking and scarring. Is the 5 lbs called for in your recipe before or after prep? If before, is my 5 lb batch now too low on acid to be safe and shelf stable?
(*Using Aunt Ruby’s German Green, may not be pretty but they’re what’s in my garden right now and I’m thinking they’ll give a nice ‘smokey’ nuance to the jam.)
Hello main blog person!
I just found this recipe and am going to try it… I had a question, though, about the amount of sugar called for. that seems like a lot! I never use that much sugar in any of my other jam recipes. How sweet is the tomato jam and have you tried using less sugar or pectin? Thanks!
-mothling.
I have not made this jam with less sugar than the recipe calls for. Because this jam doesn’t have any additional pectin, it needs the presence of the sugar to help it set. For more information about reducing sugar, read this post: http://www.foodinjars.com/2010/12/canning-101-how-to-can-creatively-and-still-be-safe/
[...] made: plain tomatoes, tomato sauce (both canned with lemon juice), tomato and tomatillo salsas, tomato jam, pear-vanilla jam, and roasted corn-zucchini salsa (recipe here, I agree with the comments about it [...]
i’m on hour 3 of simmering this jam (eeps!). i used around 5 pounds of brandywine heirlooms. should i bring the whole thing to a hard boil again or just let it simmer forever until it looks all jammy?
Kyna, I’m afraid I’m replying too late to be helpful. But essentially, the trick with this jam is just to cook the liquid out. So whether you do it at a hard boil or a slow simmer, the end effect should be the same.
Finally, finally made this stuff. It never “jammed” up for me though. I let it sit for 24 hours in a crock pot and it was still kind of runny. It did turn into a lovely dark red and still had fantastic flavor. I put it in my Vitamix and pureed it. So now I have a wonderful, unique BBQ sauce that will still make great Christmas gifts. I really wanted the jam but I guess I can mix some sauce into whipped cream cheese and make a yummy spread? Thanks, Marisa.
Sorry to hear that it didn’t jam for you! Mixing it into cream cheese sounds delicious!
Just finished canning a batch of this! Heavenly! We got 4.5 half pints, FYI.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It was just what I needed to use up the final few tomatoes from this year’s garden – these were small little guys, and I wasn’t looking forward to trying to peel and seed them. It took several hours to reduce down to jam consistency, and my yield was 5 half pints. The taste is amazing, and this will become a regular in my canning repertoire!
A hint? We took the lid off of our crock pot and let it simmer and have a bit of the fluid evaporated and we got a very thick product. Amazing what the stick blender does for it!
I have to update my above comment. I tasted this again after it has cooled off the next morning, and the result was SUPERB! I served it during supper that day, and my husband, who is not a fan of tomatoes (raw or cooked), loved it, even plain. I also asked my SIL to taste it and see if she can market it. She never liked cooked tomatoes until she tried this tomato jam, and yes she thinks she can market it (she supplies the small stores in this area). So, thanks a bunch for this recipe!
[...] Tomato Jam from Food in Jars We canned our usual tomato sauce, pizza sauce, salsa, and diced tomatoes with the bounty from our garden, but I wanted to try something really different…tomato jam. It’s delicious! I keep thinking of ways we can use this: on burger, as a glaze on chicken or pork, over cream cheese as an appetizer, etc. It’s got great tomato flavor and a nice kick from the hot pepper flakes. [...]
[...] mais je les cuit déjà si souvent que… bof. La cinquième option? La confiture aux tomates (ici, en anglais), une concoction épicée à essayer (nous dit l’auteure) avec un fromage à pâte molle ou [...]
Marisa- I just made this and it is absolutely the best thing I have ever canned. I want to just go at it with a spoon. And the color is amazing!
I’ve made two batches of this jam, and it is really good. On the second batch, cut the sugar by 1/2 cup, and only used 1/2 tsp. chili flakes. Took longer to cook down, about two hours, but the flavor is still great. The tomato mix was about 1/2 Romas, and 1/2 heirlooms, and some from my friends garden that looked like cherry tomatoes on steroids. Will do this again next year. Thanks so much for the great recipes you give us!
3.5 pints in the canner! This stuff is awesome! A tad on the sweet side, and plenty of heat.
Thank you for the great recipe!!!!!
[...] Tomato Jam you say? Not quite sure? Oh my goodness. Do it. This is a new one for me this year and is perhaps the tastiest thing I’ve ever canned. And the color of the finished product is stunning. Somehow it looks like rubies. It is so good I made a second batch tonight. Marisa at Food in Jars might just have changed my life with this one. simmering down [...]
[...] Food in Jars Tomato Jam [...]
This is excellent! And much easier than tomato sauce or ketchup, since the peels and seeds stay in. I’m glad you cross-referenced the recipe in your tomato post this year, since I’d missed it the first time around. I cut the sugar down to 2 cups (used brown sugar for a deeper flavor), and it was nice and jammy after about an hour. Made 6 half-pints. Thanks for a great addition to my tomato canning season.
Just made this tonight. Started with 5 lbs of very ripe cherry toms that I just cut in half. It took about 2 hours to cook down to 3 pints. As someone else said, the color is fabulous. Taste is like an incredibly rich ketchup. I used lemon instead of limes since there’s a ready source of lemons in the neighborhood.