Ever made tomato jam?! With farmers markets and gardens full of ripe tomatoes, now is the time! This chunky jam spread is a great addition to sandwiches or burgers, or as an appetizer on top of crostini!
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Although I’ve never met a sauce or jam that I didn’t like, I really love this tomato jam!
Tomato Jam is a thick, hearty, textured spread flavored with roasted cumin and mustard seeds. It tastes slightly sweet and earthy.
This spread is neither chunky like chutney nor smooth like ketchup. It falls somewhere between the two to create a sauce worthy of almost any dish, but works particularly well with sandwiches and burgers.
Which Tomato Varieties Make the Best Jam?
For this jam, I prefer to use plum tomatoes like Romas They’re so loved for making homemade tomato sauce for the same reasons:
- The walls of the fruit are thick, and that makes for a higher flesh-to-seed ratio. Fewer seeds make them easier and quicker to remove. Nobody wants tomato seeds in their jam.
- Also, plum tomatoes don’t contain as much waterwhich means less time is needed to reduce congestion.
Essentially, you get more bang for your buck for jam making.
Ways to use your tomato jam
Tomato jam is wonderful on burgers, but also as a spread on turkey or grilled cheese sandwiches. Use it to spice up chicken weeknights or scoop it over eggs in the morning.
It also goes great with crostini with goat cheese and is served as an appetizer during the holidays!
A jam sauce like this can take any dish from bland to generous. We’re at the peak of tomato season and it’s time to put those bad guys to work.
Can tomato jam be canned?
When it comes to tomatoes, I’d rather freeze them than I can. Feel free to double or triple the amount and freeze in one-cup portions to use as needed. It should be kept in the freezer for up to three months.
More sauces and toppings to try
- Blue Cheese Sauce
- ham jam
- Chimichurri
- Thousand Iceland Dressing
- Dr Pepper BBQ Sauce
tomato jam
You can serve this jam warm or cold. It’s up to you. I prefer to use a fleshy tomato like Roma, but any tomato will do.
You should be able to find mustard seeds in the condiment section of your local grocery store. Do not replace mustard seeds with mustard.
ingredients
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1 teaspoon cumin
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1 teaspoon mustard seeds
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3 tablespoons olive oil
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1 medium onion, sliced
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2 garlic cloves, chopped
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3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
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1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
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1 1/2 pounds Roma tomatoes
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1/4 cup packed brown sugar
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1/4 teaspoon salt
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1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
special equipment
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food processor
method
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Roast the spice seeds:
In a medium dry skillet, toast the cumin and mustard seeds over medium-high heat. Shake the pan occasionally until the seeds become flavorful and start to crackle and pop, about 6 minutes.
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Cooking onions and garlic:
Add the olive oil to the pan with the spices. After 1 minute add onions, garlic and peppers. Sweat onions for about 10 minutes. They should look soft, oily, and red.
Add red wine vinegar and cook for another 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
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Tomatoes and onions pulse:
Core, halve and deseed the tomatoes. Place the tomatoes and onion and spice mixture in a food processor and pulse about 10 times.
You want the finished product to be combined, look uniform in shape but still have some texture. You don’t want it to pulse so much that it’s smooth as a sauce.
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Cook Marmelade:
Add the tomato and onion mixture to the pan along with the brown sugar, salt and pepper. Cook over medium-high heat until almost all of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick and jam-like. This should take around 15 minutes.
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Serve or store:
Serve immediately or transfer to a container with a lid and refrigerate for 1 week. Can be served warm or cold. The jam can also be frozen for up to three months.
