Tomato Week: Tomato Jam

Day 2 of "tomato week" is this sweet and spicy tomato jam that you can use in place of ketchup, alongside meats as a condiment, spread on sandwiches (in place of sliced tomatoes - one of these days I'll run out of garden fresh tomatoes and am going to love having this jam as a substitute!), paired with cheeses and cured meats, spread on a crunchy crostini with a creamy cheese, on a spoon straight from the jar...so many ways to use this!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 4 1/2 lbs. ripe tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped (about 10 cups)
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• kosher salt

Directions:

• In a 5- to 6- quart pot, combine the sugar, vinegar, and 1/4 cup water. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture looks syrupy, about 5 minutes.

• Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes (if using), and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

• Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down and the juice has thickened, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. (Keep an eye on it as it thickens, you might need to stir it more often).

• Season to taste with salt. Let cool to room temperature, transfer to a jar and refrigerate for up to 2 months. 

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

Notes: I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup and it's still plenty sweet. This took a long time to cook down, closer to 3 hours. After most of the liquid cooked out I cooled it slightly and then blended it up a bit in the food processor so it's smoother. If you don't want to process it I would remove a lot of the skins, when it's cooked down there are a lot of skins and I didn't like that. Once I blended it up tho the texture is great and much more "jam" like. This made over 2 cups for me. 

found the recipe here

two years ago: white beans in marinara sauce