Lucky dip - Jam from tomatoes

"It is a dream food for the sweet and savory lovers among us. It is delightfully tangy, just a little sticky, and it smells absolutely incredible as it simmers up on the stove. It’s also versatile in the same way that chutney is versatile, which is to say that you can serve it with grain pilafs, bowls, roasted tofu, or what have you. It will be very hard to find something for which this jam is not a really good accompaniment. "

The Full Helping

The picture above is of the jam described in the quote at the top of the page but it's very representative of the sentiments I have seen expressed elsewhere. This lady is obviously a bit of a health freak, possibly a vegan I think from other comments in the article on her blog The Full Helping. The recipe looks quite tempting though, and it expressed some of the things I found about tomato jam. But it's not my lucky dip.

For this was a lucky dip. I feel a bit uninspired these days and a lucky dip leads you down lots of unexpected pathways. This one was one of my old Women's Weekly cookery books the Tomato Cookbook. The Women's Weekly cookbooks - sort of large magazines really - are very good. I have a few - one of which, together with Charmaine Solomon - really taught me to cook Thai food. Which for some reason I don't do very much these days. I still keep an eye on what Women's Weekly is publishing in the way of cookery books - they are always on trend as it were. This book comes from a homelier era.

But it is packed full of recipes for everything you could imagine doing with a tomato or two. It begins with a very large section on preserving - from sauces, to chutney, jam, dried - on and on it goes. The page I opened it at was for a Spiced Tomato and Apple Jam and a Pineapple, Tomato and Ginger Jam. I think I'll concentrate on the former as I don't think I fancy the pineapple, and definitely not the ginger - although lots of the recipes I found included ginger in some form or another. But I really don't like ginger. I have tried but I just can't acquire the taste. The pineapple and tomato combination - and yes the ginger too - is very Women's Weekly, well Royal Show, Country Women's Association to me somehow. And not tempting.

But there are lots of recipes for tomato and apple jam out there. And most of them include some kind of spice. 'Our' recipe has cinnamon and cloves, but there are lots of other suggestions in the blogosphere. Many add chilli, but to my mind this makes it more like a chutney. Although in a way that makes it more versatile and almost everyone writing about it thought that it would go with just about everything and could be used in dozens of different ways.

"Sweet and thick with a kick of heat, this jam tastes great with grilled chicken or fish, dolloped on fried eggs, or spread on toast with sharp cheddar cheese. Make it in August when tomatoes are at their peak, and serve in winter for a hint of sunshine." Saveur

A couple of times I have made things called tomato jam, but which to my mind were more of a spicy tomato dip, chutney, sauce - call it what you will. Maybe the highest recommendation I saw for tomato jam was from somebody who loved it but hated tomatoes. Her grandmother used to make it and she remembered with fondness grabbing some as soon as it was made and slathering it on bread and butter. So maybe I should try.

"Tomato jam isn't as sweet as traditional jam, as tomatoes are naturally high in pectin and require less sugar for thickening. Most tomato jam recipes lean savory, with warm spices like ginger and pepper added to make the jam more robust. The result is sweet and savory, with a thick jam-like texture with big pieces of the tomato throughout." Kitchn

Most of the recipes I found were aimed at people who grew their own fruit and vegetables. I just wish I could. But occasionally kind friends with a glut pass some over to me, and I guess you can buy boxes of really ripe tomatoes at the market. So maybe I should try.

"We're really losing the canning and preserving arts — people just don't have the time to fool with it any more." Mackenzie Lunsford - Citizen Times

Are we really losing the art? I do have friends who still make their own jam, though I don't think the younger generation do. Does my daughter-in-law? I do remember seeing them make strawberry jam on Play School once - for it's really not very difficult. And if you have a microwave - and who doesn't these days, it is very quick to whip up a small batch. It's very simple, but requires a little patience.

I had to laugh at, and also reflect on this quote from Jane Grigson who was writing I think in the 70s:

"It is not surprising that tomato jam is more of a French taste. Our commercial tomatoes are useless as they dissolve into a poor flavoured slosh. I could not recommend the recipe unless you grow your own firm-fleshed tomatoes out of doors. Then it is delicious with its light tang of lemon and ginger." Jane Grigson

I reflected that in recent years - very recent years - the quality of the tomatoes we buy here has increased enormously. You can get more varieties - cherry tomatoes have just become huge, and greenhouse grown vine-ripened are very much the thing. They're still not as good as home grown or as the ones you find in France and Italy though. But good enough to make jam with - especially if you add apples too. Or lemons. But maybe not pineapple.

"green tomato and lemon marmalade is definitely one for the breakfast tray and a great way to use up unripe toms." Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

You can find his recipe here.

And that's the other thing that doing these lucky dips demonstrates - that I have all these wonderful and interesting recipes sitting on my bookshelves and I never use them. Because there are only so many meals you can cook in a week and when you are cooking for just two you often end up with leftovers which replace another day's potential experiment.

Of course it's winter now and there is no glut of tomatoes on the scene, but I will give you the recipe from the Women's Weekly anyway - just in case ...

SPICED TOMATO AND APPLE JAM

2 medium lemons, halved

4 large apples, peeled

3 large tomatoes, peeled, chopped

1 cup tomato juice

2 teaspoons grated orange rind

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

5 cups sugar

Squeeze juice from lemons; reserve seeds. You need 1/3 cup juice. Remove and reserve cores from apples; chop apples. Tie reserved seeds and cores in piece of muslin.

Combine lemon juice, muslin bag, apples, tomatoes, tomato juice, rind and spices in large pan. Simmer covered, about 30 minutes or until apples are tender.

Add sugar, stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes or until jam jells when tested on a cold saucer; discard muslin bag. Pour hot jam into hot sterilised jars; seal immediately.