Sunday, October 30, 2011

tomato...jam

It's time for a change...
Brandi was not impressed with my Pressure Cooking adventures and Summer said she is sick of looking at my blog and having jars of chicken looking back at her.
So, I will tell you about my latest kitchen adventure:

It kills me to wait all winter, spring, and summer long to get those yummy ripe tomatoes.
Oh how I love a fresh garden tomato.
I can make an entire meal of tomatoes for days and days.
So, when the threat of frost and winter sets in, it makes me sad to see all of those poor green tomatoes.

So, I heard of making jam out of green tomatoes.
Sign me up!!
I just googled "green tomato jam recipe" and I had dozens of choices.

This is what I did...
Made 4 cups of green tomato puree by throwing the prettiest green tomatoes in the blender.
Added 4 cups of blackberries and raspberries that were lurking in the freezer.
Add 4 cups of sugar.
Boil 10 minutes.
 
Add a 3 oz box of Jell-O.
And 1 tsp. lemon juice.
I had blackberry fusion on hand.  Not sure why, but it was a great combination.
Simmered for 20 minutes.
Put in small jars and put it in the freezer.
It was so darn yummy that I ran downstairs and found a box of berry blue Jell-O.
And I had plenty more green tomatoes.
And I threw in the last few raspberries and found about 2 cups of blueberries.
The second batch ended up much thicker than the first , not sure why.
So, by the end of the day I had used up all of the random berries lurking in the freezer, 
used the end of the tomato crop, 
and barely made a dent in my food storage sugar supply.

There were tons of recipes on the internet.
Some were freezer jam.  Some you could process and leave on the shelf.
Lots of options.
I totally recommend this cheaper version of berry jam.
And, if the tiny nut in the raspberries or blackberries bother you,
You can make this entirely with the tomatoes and the Jell-O.
If the tomato seeds bother you, you can strain them out.
But, if you leave them in, they just seem like seeds from the berries.
It's like camouflage. 

PS.  I went to a class last week sponsored by the "other" stake.
Topic:  Pressure Cooking.  (not canning like I did, cooking, as in, cooking dinner.  every night.  in the pressure cooker.  fast.)
Between the crock pot and the pressure cooker,  I don't know why I even have an oven.
Oh yeah. to bake bread so I can eat my yummy freezer jam.

2 comments:

Amara said...

I did the green tomato jam one year, but the recipe used just tomatoes and jello and was NASTY. I'll have to try your recipe because I still have a million green (turning orange) tomatoes on my counter. I made (ripe)spiced tomato jam this year--remind me to give you a jar.

Amara said...

Also, the best thing about my little pressure cooker is cooking rice. Brown rice takes nearly an hour on the stove regularly, but in the pressure cooker? about ten minutes. Love it. Beans are also quick.