Tomato Preserves
Looking for more creative ways to use up your tomato harvest? Tomato preserves make an excellent addition to a charcuterie board or cheese tray, grilled cheese, and more. They can be a fun gift for the holidays, too!
This recipe is from our Canning & Pickling booklet, published in August 2008.
In the farmstand: red tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs red tomatoes
- 4 cups sugar
- 1 Tbsp pickling spices
- 3 slices of fresh ginger
- 2 lemons sliced
Instructions
- Prepare canner, jars and lids.
- Scald the tomatoes for about 2 minutes, plunge them into cold water. Core, peel, and quarter them when cool.
- Add the tomatoes to a bowl. Gently mix in the sugar and let stand for 6 to 12 hours.
- Drain the liquid from the tomatoes into a heavy, nonreactive pot. Tie the pickling spices and ginger in a spice bag or cheesecloth and add it in. Bring the tomato liquid and spices to a boil and continue to boil, stirring until the syrup forms a thread or reaches 230ºF on a candy thermometer.
- Add the tomatoes, lemons, and spices. Reduce the heat to low, and cook the mixture until tomatoes are dark red and translucent.
- Skim off any foam and ladle the preserves into pint or half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding preserves.
- Wipe each rim and center the lid on each jar. Screw the band down until resistance is met, then increase to finger-tip tightness.
- Process for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes before removing the jars.
- Cool, label, date, and store in a cool, dry, dark place.