The other day my cousin came to babysit our kiddos and brought with her some extra goodies from her garden! Just over 2 lbs of cherry tomatoes and 3 giant zucchini. Today I decided to try something new with the cherry tomatoes, tomato jam!
After checking out 1/2 a doz recipes on Pinterest I came across this recipe from Sacatomato and modified it based on our taste & what I had in the house. It came out yummy & I will definitely be making more for Christmas gifts!
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 large onion, diced
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
2 large pinched kosher salt
2 lbs cherry tomatoes cut in 1/2
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp each:
minced garlic
crushed red pepper
fresh rosemary chopped fine
fresh thyme chopped fine
DIRECTIONS:
1) In a large stock pot, heat oil over medium high heat.
2) Add diced onions & sauté until they begin to turn golden.
3) Add 2 hefty pinches of salt & the red pepper flakes. Sauté for 3 more minutes.
4) Add tomatoes, sugar, garlic, and apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil, stirring often.
5) Reduce to a simmer and cook stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. The mixture should be much thicker.
6) Add fresh herbs & cook for 10 more minutes.
7) Ladle into hot sterilized jars, leaving about 1/4 inch of head space. Wipe off the rims of each jar, add the lids on top, and twist on the rings to "finger tip tight". I used six 4 oz ball jelly jars.
8) Process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes*. Remove jars to a cooling rack and allow them to cool. You should hear a ping for each jar which will indicate a proper seal. The lid will also no longer appear domed. You can store properly sealed jars in your pantry for up to one year.
8) Process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes*. Remove jars to a cooling rack and allow them to cool. You should hear a ping for each jar which will indicate a proper seal. The lid will also no longer appear domed. You can store properly sealed jars in your pantry for up to one year.
* You don't really need any fancy canning equipment - although I highly recommend a jar lifter! For small batches you can do what I do and simply use a stock pot with pasta insert. The key is making sure they aren't touching the bottom of the stock pot (the pasta insert keeps them above the bottom) and are not touching each other. If I have more jars to process than will fit in the pasta insert, I place a few dish towels over the jars that will get processed in the second batch to keep them a bit warm while they wait their turn. Happy canning!
