Tomato Jam Recipes & Kiddie Tomato Theives
We have three different tomato jam recipes for you below in the recipe box. You can customize your own spices and make your own original version! 
Tomato Jam Recipes
Explosions of vibrant colored tomatoes are making waves at farmers markets right now. For those lucky gardeners who didn’t get hit with tomato viruses, bugs or late blight, they’re probably tomatoes coming out of their ears.
We’ve had 50/50 luck this year with our tomatoes, which is utterly confusing. Those that did well are putting out tomatoes faster than we can collect and the ones that didn’t do well tanked desperately to a pile of brown dead leaves. Let’s hope we can figure out our tomato plight for next year because having 9 tomato plants die within 2 weeks is the biggest blow to any gardeners ego. It’s definitely humbling.
But for the other 8 plants that did thrive past any diseases, we’ve decided to extend the bounty and make big batches of tomato jam!
Preserving Summer Tomatoes
Tomato jam/jellies/preserves are a delicious, perfectly sweet and versatile. Perfect for Summer’s abundance of tomatoes. It can be used as a spread on crusty bread or sandwiches, as a nice topping on grilled dishes and a perfect accompaniment to just about anything on your table. Tomato jam can be really addicting and before you realize it, you’ll be adding it to so many dishes to remind you of summer’s tomato glory.
So why not treat it like a sweet fruit and make it into a jam, jelly or preserve? Try it. If you love tomatoes, you’ll love this. Promise! And don’t forget the peanut butter and tomato jam sandwich!
Kiddies Stealing Tomatoes – It’s a good thing!
We hosted a big garden party a few weeks ago for Todd’s Aikido Dojo. It was a family affair with children running all about and enjoying the open and secret hiding places in our garden. All was great fun with the bubbles, hide-and-seek games and toys, but when they asked for a plastic bags, we were suspicious, cautious and a little scared.
“Why do you want plastic bags for?” we asked with nervous anxiety. “What are you going to do with the bags?” (we might not have kids of our own, but we know when there’s trouble lurking behind those innocent questions!)
“We’re gonna pick fruit!” they squealed as they grabbed the bags and scurried out the kitchen like a pack of excited puppies. We both looked at each other, puzzled at the “pick fruit” part because most of the fruit we have are growing on trees, which are much taller than the 3-4 feet that they are able to reach.
Oh no, trouble. So we ran behind them, scared to think of what terror they would be inflicting onto our poor fruit trees, our own babies. When we caught up to them in our tomato patch, we were SHOCKED at what we saw! These little critters were picking our cherry tomatoes and eating them like they were candy! “We love this fruit!” they screamed as they were stuffing their adorable faces with plump orange Sun Gold tomatoes and Cherry Red tomatoes.
Kiddie tomato stealers & Sierra Doggie tomato KILLER!
Why was it a shock? It was surprising because first of all, they called tomatoes correctly as “fruit” and they were eating them like they were pieces of chocolate truffles. Before we knew it, they’re cute little faces were dripping with tiny tomatoes seeds and their little hands were red with fresh squished tomato juice.
It proves once again that a fresh tomato off the vine is sweet fruit and is truly Nature’s candy that kids of all ages swoon over. And try these tomato jam recipes in a grilled sandwich!
-Diane & Todd
Three Tomato Jam Recipes
Ingredients
Sweet n' Spicy Tomato Jam Recipe - "Sweet Nectar with a Little Spice"
- 1 lb (455 g) Tomatoes , roughly cut (some varieties may need to be peeled)
- 1/2 cup (45 g) Brown Sugar
- 1/2 Serrano Chili , seeded & finely diced (or whatever chili you like)
- 4 whole Cloves
- 1 stick Cinnamon , preferably Vietnamese Cinnamon
- 1-2 Tablespoons (15-30 ml) Red Wine Vinegar , depending on how tangy you want it
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons (20 ml) fresh Lime or Lemon juice , lime is our preference
Tomato Jam w/ Ginger Recipe - "Ahhh, you so Asian! Tomato Jam"
- 1 lb (455 g) Tomatoes, roughly cut (some varieties may need to be peeled)
- 1/2 cup (45 g) Golden Brown Sugar
- 2 teaspoons fresh Ginger , grated or finely minced
- 4 whole Cloves
- 1 stick Cinnamon , preferably Vietnamese Cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 1/2 T (20 ml) Lime
Tomato & Thyme Jam Recipe - "Molto Bene Tomato Jam"
- 1 lb (455 g) Tomatoes, roughly cut (some varieties may need to be peeled)
- 1/2 cup (45 g) Golden Brown Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon fresh Thyme , finely minced
- 4 whole Cloves
- 1 stick Cinnamon , preferably Vietnamese Cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons (20 ml) fresh Lime or Lemon juice, lime is our preference
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients from your jam of choice in a saucepan, then simmer over med-low heat. Stir occasionally and gently. Simmer about an hour or until the mixture thickens to a jam-like consistency (who'd have thought.)
- Put tomato jam into sterilized jars. For longer storage, can in a water bath (cover with water about 1" above jars & simmer for about 15 min.) or just store in the fridge to keep for a couple weeks.
How many jars of what size did your recipes fill? I’m looking to make holiday gifts while I can still get heirlooms for $2.15 a pound (hooray California) but I don’t know how to scale the recipe until I know how much it makes!
For each pound of tomatoes, it should yield a little less than a pint, but it will vary by each tomato’s juiciness and how much you cook it down. Hope that gives you a close enough estimate. Good luck!
t & d
I just made the sweet & spicy tomato jam tonight and it came out awesome – thanks so much!
I have a question –
all the tomato jam/ jelly recipes I have seen use pectin to jell the mixture for canning – yet these recipes (look GREAT by the way) do not?
TY Pam
Hi Pam,
We didn’t need any pectin with our tomatoes. Maybe if you tomatoes which are really watery or if you’d prefer the tomato jam to be more thickly jelled, using pectin would be a good solution. We liked the consistency we were able to get without the pectin, so stuck with that.
Thanks for the sweet compliments!
T & D
Wow, those tomatoes are gorgeous. I hardly see different kind of tomatoes in the Philippines. You have such a great blog with gorgeous photos. Regards, Divina
Better child thieves than greyhounds! When my Stupice tomatoes were just becoming pink, they started disappearing. I blamed it on the local wild bird population. Then one early morning while I stood there gazing out the window waiting for our newly adopted racing greyhound to take care of her business I learned who was stealing my tomatoes afterall! There she was, delicately plucking the under ripe fruit off the staked plant with her long snout in the greenery. Bird netting has stopped her forays, I give her one for dinner every night. Thanks for the recipes, I’m gettin’ out the canning pot.
Our munchkin loves the cherry tomatoes, calling them “teeny teeny maters!” My great grandmother used to make tomato jam, and I’ve forgotten how much I loved it. Thanks for the recipes!
wow, your crop looks absolutely amazing! and those romas are downright cute 🙂
Growing up, we would put sugar on our sliced tomatoes! This jam sounds wonderful. IF my tomatoes turn red before the first frost hits, I will definitely try this recipe. Still being stubborn about buying any tomatoes…but I might just have to break down and visit the farmer’s market. *sigh* Gardening in Wisconsin bites, lol.
A naturally sweet post!
And darling photos.
LL
I’ve never had tomato jam or preserved 🙂 Interesting to find an application where a tomato is treated as it is- a fruit. And its great that the kids got to pick them and gobble them up fresh!