CanJam # 8 Tomato Jam

Way back in January when the first CanJam ingredient was citrus, I found a recipe for tomato lemon jam in the Madame Benoit cookbook that looked really interesting. At the time lemons were readily available but the thought of using winter tomatoes wasn't very appealing. But the recipe stuck in the back of my mind as something I wanted to try when tomatoes are at their peak flavour. Well they don't get any more peak than right now!

Madame Benoit's recipe calls for an obscene amount of sugar- 5 lbs sugar to 5 lbs tomatoes! ( I think it may be a misprint.)But Colette found another tomato jam recipe that also called for lemon and a lot less sugar so we used it instead. We also tweaked the spices, adding a few things that weren't originally called for but that we thought would make a great addition.

Tomato Jam ( modified from Company's Coming by Jean Pare)


5 lbs ripe tomatoes ( we used mostly romas)
4 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2cup lemon juice
4 cups sugar
2 cups white vinegar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Peel and dice tomatoes. Place in saucepan and bring to a slow boil. Boil uncovered about 20- 30 minutes, stirring often until liquid is reduced.

Add lemon peel and juice, sugar, vinegar and seasonings. We also added 1 bay leaf and a touch of celery seed. Stir and return to boiling for about 40 minutes until thickened. Test on a chilled saucer for gelling. Pour in 250 ml jars - recipe said 4, we got 5 250 and 2 x 125 so perhaps we didn't cook it down as far. It gelled nicely but not too solid which we prefer.
The taste is lovely and piquante. Sweet enough to enjoy as a jam but savoury enough to enjoy with meat or cheese and fantastic with shrimp!