Tomato jam recipe | Cooking with Nana Ling

This easy 4-ingredient tomato jam recipe is the perfect way to extend the tomato season.

Enjoy it with a hot, big winter breakfast, a lazy Sunday barbecue, a thick slice of sourdough toast, or any other way – or day – you like.

Tomato jam recipe

This recipe comes straight from Nana Ling’s handwritten recipe book.

I’ve updated the quantities to modern measurements and reduced the amounts so the recipe makes two medium jars of tomato jam.

So keep scrolling to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the tested and tweaked recipe. Plus, this post has many more tips and tricks for making the best tomato jam!

Ingredients for tomato jam

You only need 4 ingredients:

• 1 kg of tomatoes
• 1/2 pineapple
• 3 cups of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon tartaric acid (or substitute 1 tablespoon lemon juice if you don’t have this ingredient).

How to make tomato jam

Remove the skin and core from the pineapple and cut into small pieces.

Next, according to Nana Ling’s instructions, we need to “scald and peel” the tomatoes.

To do this, place the tomatoes in a large bowl and pour boiling water over the tomatoes until they are covered.

Leave on for 5 minutes, then strain off the liquid and wait until cool enough to touch.

The tomato skin should burst open after scalding and peel off easily with your hands.

If they are not split, apply a little pressure or nick the skin a little with a sharp knife and the skin should peel off easily.

If you’re using cherry tomatoes, they should just pop out of their skins by applying a little pressure to the base of the tomato.

After peeling, cut the tomatoes into small cubes and put them in a large pot together with the pineapple pieces.

Add a cup of sugar to the saucepan with the chopped fruit and pour the rest of the sugar into a casserole dish. Place the baking dish with the sugar in it in the oven and turn the heat up to 160 degrees Celsius (fan) or equivalent.

Gently heat the pineapple, tomato, and sugar mixture until the sugar dissolves.

Increase the heat to medium/high and cook for 20 minutes.

Add heated sugar from the oven to the mixture and stir in quickly to dissolve.

Continue cooking over medium-high heat for 30 minutes, stirring regularly.

A few minutes before removing the jam from the heat, add the tartaric acid and stir.

Pour into sterilized jars and seal immediately.

This will ensure your jam sets without burning

The hardest part of this recipe, as with all jams, is getting the jam to boil without burning the jam.

The best way to avoid this is to constantly monitor the mixture and stir it regularly after the remaining sugar has been added. Be sure to stir almost constantly towards the end of the cooking time.

You should also adjust the temperature so that the jam cooks evenly and not quickly.

How do you know when your tomato jam is set and ready to be poured into jars?

The above times should be a good guide.

But you’ll also know it’s done when you scrape a wooden spoon along the bottom of the saucepan and liquid doesn’t immediately spill in your way – so you can actually briefly see the bottom of the saucepan as you stir.

Save the tomato jam

Depending on how well you sterilize and process your jars, tomato jam can last up to 12 months in the pantry.

Once opened, it will keep in the fridge for about a month or in the freezer up to 6 months.

Use your own judgment before eating stored jams.