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melva02

Tomato jam question

melva02
15 years ago

Mrswhlbarrow and I were talking about this recipe she posted on Your Greatest Hit Recipes for Leesa. She already canned it, and I thought it looked borderline on acid, so now that I've made her nervous, could we get some more opinions?

I know you can't can a cooking recipe. But Mrswhlbarrow says that the blog originally said the recipe may be canned, though that line has been removed. Blog commenters seem to be divided on its canning safety.

I'm wondering whether anyone knows of a similar recipe from a reputable cookbook. I didn't see anything like it in Small Batch Preserving or the Ball Complete Book, but Carol has said The Jamlady Cookbook is very safe in terms of acidity...does she have a tomato jam with an added low-acid ingredient?

The question is, in one pint of jam composed of cooked-down tomatoes, is 2T lime juice (I would use bottled) enough acid for 1 jalapeno and 1T ginger? I'm pretty sure it will work if I sub red pepper flakes, because then you could consider it 1T lime juice for 1 pint of tomatoes and 1T lime juice for 1T ginger.

Thoughts?

Melissa

Tomato Jam

recipe by Mark Bittman from his blog Bitten at nytimes.com

1 1/2 pounds good ripe tomatoes (Roma are best), cored and coarsely chopped

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tablespoon fresh grated or minced ginger

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

1 jalapeño or other peppers, stemmed, seeded and minced, or red pepper flakes or cayenne to taste. (I used two Thai bird peppers and included the seeds)

1. Combine all ingredients in a heavy medium saucepan, Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often.

2. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture has consistency of thick jam, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, then cool and refrigerate until ready to use; this will keep at least a week.

Yield: About 1 pint.

Comments (10)

  • Linda_Lou
    15 years ago

    The one you posted is for the fridge. It only uses frsh lime juice, which is not as acidic as bottled juice. It only makes a pint, so that is a cooking recipe.
    These came from an extension site, so they are fine.
    You can see one uses Tabasco sauce, so perhaps that is another option for you. You could always use the first recipe and add some dried chiles or use the Tabasco. You can add any of the dried spices and herbs to one of these, too. This way I know you will have the right acidity.
    TOMATO MARMALADE - Makes 6 half-pints

    1 medium orange, peeled and quartered
    2 lbs. tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped (4 1/2 C.)
    2 Tbsp. lemon juice
    3 inches stick cinnamon, broken
    2 tsp. whole cloves
    5 C. sugar

    Seed and quarter orange. Slice orange quarters crosswise very thinly over bowl to catch juice. In 5 qt. pan, combine orange slices, juice, tomatoes and lemon juice. Tie cinnamon and cloves in cloth bag and add to tomato mixture.

    Bring to boil, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in sugar. Bring to full boil, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches gel stage (see SIA 9.303 Making Jellies at Home), about 7 minutes or longer. Remove from heat. Remove spice bag. Skim if necessary. Pour into sterile jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust lids and rings. Water bath 10 minutes.

    TOMATO JELLY - Yields 6 medium glasses

    1 3/4 C. canned tomato juice
    1/2 C. strained fresh lemon juice
    2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
    4 C. sugar
    1 pouch (3 oz.) liquid fruit pectin

    Combine all ingredients except pectin. Stir over high heat until mixture reaches a full boil. Stir in pectin and bring again to a full boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir and skim for about 3 minutes. Pour into sterile jars, leaving

    1/8" headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust lids and rings. Water bath 5 minutes.

    This "lively" flavored jelly is equally good served with meats or spread on hot bread.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Unusal Jam recipes

  • melva02
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    OK, after comparing notes with the tested recipes, I see that there is no way to approximate the newspaper recipe by starting from a tested one. I would be ok using the citrus from the tested recipe to ensure the right acidity, but that amount of sugar looks totally gross to me. I guess the tomato jam I posted might have as much acid as a pint of pressure-canned tomatoes, but could never be BWB and would be too thick to process as tomatoes.

    I was thinking of canning it BWB and putting it in the fridge, but since I want to keep it for at least a month or two, I guess I will just freeze it. Thanks Linda Lou.

    Melissa

  • mrswhlbarrow
    15 years ago

    Hi Melissa,
    First time online in awhile. I've been up to my eyebrows in salsa, peach salsa, that amazing raspberry chocolate confiture that someone posted.... OMG - and FIG JAM! YUM. I picked five pounds of ripe luscious figs yesterday and made a gignery, lemony, vanilla fig jam.

    Of course, every time I go down to the basement to put more shiny labeled jars on the shelf, I stare at the remaining three pints of tomato jam.

    What to do what to do. I can tell you it's been about three weeks now. We go through a pint a week, currently, served with goat cheese, or manchego, or fresh mozzerella. But I had hoped to give it to friends for the holidays. As I said in my earlier post - served it this week and no one died.

    Should I toss the rest?

    Cathy

  • melva02
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    I would not give it to friends, for sure. Part of the reason I decided to freeze it instead of can & refrigerate is that I want to use it to bake things for other people.

    The problem is that it could be only one jar that has botulism, and botulism is so terrible. I hate to say it but I think I would throw it out if it were me. There's still time to make more this summer and freeze it.

    When I think about it from an acidity & heat perspective, the concentrated tomatoes with some added acidity seem like they might be ok, but given that this is an untested recipe rather than a mistake in a tested recipe (like the person who used fresh juice instead of bottled in her tomatoes), I get scared. Maybe you can get some litmus paper and get a guess on the pH? If the acidity is ok, the other things that can grow if it's underprocessed don't really scare me. Just the botulism. Sorry. :-(

    Melissa

  • crankyoldman
    15 years ago

    The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving has two (at least) tomato preserves recipes. I tried the Honeyed Yellow Tomato Butter, and it is the best jam I have ever had, I am not kidding. It does not taste like tomato, although it smells a little bit like it. It kind of reminds me of apple butter. I just had some on cheese. It's based on a Victorian food (I did not even know the Victorians had yellow tomatoes).

    They also have a hot one called Love Apple Tomato Jelly. I have been meaning to try that. It has chili peppers in it, like you were planning to use, but it does call for added lemon juice.

  • lokidog
    15 years ago

    Not sure why you are concerned with acidity here. Jams are preserved by sugar, a completely different suppressant than acidity. So if you make it with enough sugar and it sets as jelly you should be fine. The whole tomato not being acid thing is when canning just tomatoes! Lots of jams are made with fruits with far less acidity than tomatoes.

  • mom2wildboys
    15 years ago

    I made a tomato jam a few years ago. It was delicious on bagels with a little bit of cream cheese. I'll see if I can find the recipe. I've made the honeyed yellow tomato dipping sauce, thinking my kids might like it for chicken fingers. Wrong! It's nice over cooked beets, though!

  • mom2wildboys
    15 years ago

    Okay, the recipe I used is from Carol Costenbader's _Big Book of Preserving the Harvest_. I think some of her recipes are not safe; not sure about this one. It was tasty, though! Opinions on safety? Didn't kill me, but we know that's no indicator!

    Tomato Jam (from _the Big Book of Preserving the Harvest_)
    Yield: four 1/2 pints (32 1-ounce servings)

    8# tomatoes, peeled, cored, and chopped in a food processor
    2 tsp salt
    2 T sugar
    4 T (1/4 c.) apple cider vinegar
    4 T firmly packed light brown sugar
    1/2 tsp ground white pepper
    1 tsp ground cinnamon

    1. Combine tomatoes, salt, and sugar in a 4 qt saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and simmer about 30 minutes.

    2. Skim foam with a metal spoon as it rises.

    3. Add vinegar, brown sugar, and spiecs, and simmer until thick, about another 30 minutes or until mixture mounds up on a cold spoon.

    4. Ladle into sterile jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Cap and seal.

    5. Process 5 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

    6. Store 2 weeks before using, allowing flavors to marry.

    I cooked it down longer than was called for to get the proper consistency (I used slicing tomatoes) and had a yield of seven 4 oz containers (28 oz rather than 32.)

  • melva02
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Lokidog, you are only partially correct. Sugar binds up the available water and reduces spoilage. It does reduce the risk of botulism as well, but to be certain that a BWB recipe is safe, it must have sufficient acid to inhibit botulism growth, not just sugar. For example, low-acid fruits like figs and asian pears need added acid. I think Mark Bittman's recipe is probably safe, but I'm not sure enough that I'm willing to risk anyone's health. I froze it.

    Mom2, I would guess your recipe is safe for the following reasons:

    1. No low-acid ingredients (peppers, etc. like what's in mine).
    2. It's pretty much just cooked-down tomatoes...isn't it ok to can tomato paste with no added acid at all?
    3. Your final yield works out to the equivalent of 2T vinegar per pint. Isn't it 1T lemon juice per pint for plain tomatoes? I think vinegar is at least half as acidicifying as lemon juice.

    Can't say for sure, but it seems a much better bet than mine.

    Melissa

  • mauirose
    13 years ago

    Maybe you can weigh in on this recipe?

    2# cherry tomatoes
    12 T white sugar
    12 T brown sugar
    4 T apple cider vinegar
    1 lemon thinly sliced
    4 T grated ginger
    1 tsp cumin
    1 tsp cinnamon
    cayenne pepper and salt to taste

    It looks like it has a lot more acid than some of the other recipes posted above but i'm not sure if apple cider vinegar is acidic enough and maybe there is too much ginger? Not sure how you can tell if it's safe for canning or not. It's a delicious recipe ; )