How to Make Tomato Jam

This season we have some surplus tomatoes, so I have decided to make tomato jam

• 500 grams of fully ripe tomatoes
• 100 grams of Sugar
• A small piece of dry ginger
• A small piece of cinnamon
• A small piece of Star anise
• One or two pieces of Cloves
• Three to four piece of Cardamom
• A pinch of salt

First we need to remove the skin from the tomatoes.

• Make a very thin cut along the surface of the tomatoes with a sharp knife
• Boil water in a pan. the quantity of water should be sufficient to cover all the tomatoes
• Once the water starts boiling, add the tomatoes to the water and put off the stove
• keep the tomatoes in hot water till the skin gets loosened from the flesh.

• Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and place them on a platter
• Remove the skin from the tomatoes with your fingers and discard the skin
• Cut tomatoes one by one and drain out the juice with the seeds
• Place the unseeded tomatoes in a mixer / grinder jar.

We have also drained out the juice from the tomatoes along with the seeds, which we need for the jam.

• Using a large holed strainer separate the juice from the seeds
• Add this juice to the tomatoes in the mixer / grinder jar
• Grind the tomatoes to a fine puree

Using a mortar and pestle make a fine powder of all other ingredients like Dry ginger, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and cardamom. You need just half of this powder to be added to the jam. This will give a wonderful flavor and taste to the finished jam.

• Place a cooking pan over medium heat and pour the tomato puree in it
• Add sugar and half the quantity of spice powder to the puree
• Add a pinch of salt to increase the taste
• Mix everything together and keep on stirring.

• Keep on stirring the jam in the pan. Also keep the flame medium to low.
• Do not allow the jam to stick to the sides of the pan as this will get burned off easily and spoil the flavor.
• Once all the moisture from the jam gets evaporated, you will find the jam not sticking to the pan.
• Stir constantly till the mixture thickens to slightly less than jam consistency.
• Take care, it may seem that the jam is still in a semi liquid form. If you over-cook, the jam may become a thick paste after cooling and sometimes it will be very difficult to remove it from the pan
• Remove the pan from stove and allow it to cool
• Transfer the jam to an air-tight container.

The spices add an excellent flavor and taste to the finished tomato jam. Use the Jam with anything you like and you will love it...