Green Tomato Jam
Green Tomato Jam is a low-sugar or low-honey cooked jam made with Pomona’s Universal Pectin and contributed by Vivian Solomon. Pomona’s Pectin contains no sugar or preservatives and jells reliably with low amounts of any sweetener. Vivian, who adapted this recipe from a high-sugar Green Tomato Jam recipe on Food.com, says: “This is a wonderful, delicately flavored jam. The lemon gives it bright notes, the cinnamon can’t be tasted but gives it depth, and the vanilla grounds it with a sweet base note. No one will guess that the main ingredient is tomatoes!”
Notes
About sweetener: Vivian used about 2 cups of sugar; I used 1½ cups, which was the right sweetness for me. 1 cup of honey is equivalent to 2 cups of sugar; ¾ cup of honey is equivalent to 1½ cups of sugar. Remember that green tomatoes are usually not sweet at all.
Servings 5 cups
Ingredients
- 2 pounds green tomatoes
- 1 lemon
- ¼ cup lemon juice bottled or fresh
- ½ of a vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ of a stick of cinnamon or ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4½ teaspoons calcium water see step #1
- ½ cup up to 1 cup honey or 1 cup up to 2 cups sugar*
- 4 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin mixed with sweetener
Instructions
- Before you begin, prepare calcium water.To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well.Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
- Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. Wash lids and bands and set aside.
- Wash tomatoes and cut into chunks. Pulse chunks briefly in a food processor. Do this in batches so you have more uniformly sized pieces. You don’t want mush.
- Measure 4 cups of processed green tomatoes into a sauce pan and set aside.
- Wash the lemon. Zest half of the lemon into the sauce pan with the tomatoes. Remove the white pith and any seeds from the zested half of the lemon. Chop the flesh but not so fine that you lose the juice. Add the chopped lemon pulp and juice to the sauce pan.
- Add ¼ cup more of lemon juice to the sauce pan.
- Slice the half of vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds into the sauce pan with the tomatoes. Add the pod also. Alternatively, add vanilla extract.
- Add calcium water, cinnamon stick (or ground cinnamon) to the sauce pan, and mix all together well.
- Measure sugar or room temperature honey into a bowl. Thoroughly mix pectin powder into sweetener. Set aside.
- Bring fruit mixture to a full boil. Add pectin-sweetener mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the jam comes back up to a boil. Once the jam returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and vanilla bean pod (if using) from the jam.
- Remove hot jars from canner and fill jars with (marmalade/jam/jelly), leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims and put on lids and screw bands, tightening bands only to “fingertip tight” (until resistance is met, and then just the tiniest bit more). Place jars in the hot water, on the rack inside the canner. (Make sure jars are upright, not touching each other or the sides of the canner, and are covered with at least 1-2 inches of water). Place the lid on the canner, bring the canner to a rolling boil, and boil for 10 minutes. (Add 1 minute additional processing time for every 1000 feet above sea level.)
- Turn off heat and allow canner and jars to sit for 5 minutes. Then, remove jars from canner. Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Then, confirm that jars have sealed, then store properly. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.
Hi, I may have missed it, but what size jars is this recipe for? I was hoping to use my pint jars for it. Thanks!
We recommend 8oz size jars, but you can use pint size if you’d like. The processing time is the same, and it’s good for about 3 weeks in the refrigerator once opened.
Thank you so much for the quick reply 🙂
I have loads of green tomatoes, can I double this recipe?
You sure can!