Our Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA bag was full of ripe summer tomatoes last week, after a slow and soggy start to tomato season here in Virginia. Unfortunately, we were leaving town the day after our pick-up. Of course, that was also the day we got the notice that the boxes of surplus canning tomatoes were available, and I was feeling panicked at the thought of not putting up tomatoes this year and faced with a pile of tomatoes we certainly wouldn’t be able to finish before leaving. I had recently seen a recipe for tomato jam and decided that was the perfect project for the night as it mainly involves simmering on the stove for a couple hours, giving me time to pack. A huge thunderstorm kept the boy awake so I put him to work slicing up the excess cherry tomatoes we also needed to use up. (Using a kid-safe knife, of course.)
I made slight alterations, using turbinado sugar and a touch of honey and a splash of Virginia’s North Gate Petit Verdot that was also in need of using up. (Not that I couldn’t have used a glass or two, but it would’ve made it even less likely that I would get all our luggage packed that night.)
For the recipe, see: Tomato Onion Jam by Jennifer Perillo/Tasty Kitchen. My alterations: 1 1/2 cup raw (turbinado sugar) and 1/4 cup raw honey, omit the brown sugar. Add 2 tablespoons red wine in lieu of lemon juice.
This weekend was the Canvolution kick-off — a nationwide effort to restore the art of preserving food, launched by former Washington Post blogger Kim O’Donnel and a host of other food writers and bloggers. Visit the Canning Across America website for a host of canning resources and advice, particularly this great article on canning with kids.
The highlight of my first mother-son canning experiment was seeing the pride in my son’s eyes as he handed his aunt and grandma their jar of jam, declaring, “I made this myself!”
What have you canned lately?
10 responses so far ↓
1 jasmine // Aug 31, 2009 at 6:26 pm
you mean this past weekend? 7 quarts of tomato sauce and 6 kinds of jam…post coming soon.
2 Nancy // Aug 31, 2009 at 8:01 pm
mind reader!!!
although our tomato ‘jam’ is more savory
thanks for sharing yours!
3 foodietots
Twitter: foodietots
// Sep 2, 2009 at 12:50 am
@ jasmine – well, that puts my three baby jars to shame. time to step up my game. 🙂
@ nancy – i was pondering savory versions, but didn’t have time to recipe browse. next time.
4 FoodieTots.com » Blog Archive » From One Local Summer to One Local Harvest // Sep 2, 2009 at 4:20 pm
[…] and *fingers crossed* putting up some peaches if there are any left at the markets this week. (See tomato jam and chilled plum soup for ways we’ve used up at-risk fruit […]
5 Aimee // Sep 8, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Made red currant jelly this summer, but sadly, most of my jars are empty.
Hope to make and can some pizza sauce soon!
6 FoodieTots.com » Blog Archive » At Market: Simple Tomato Gazpacho // Sep 14, 2009 at 8:09 am
[…] so much about), so I set about to make sure we enjoyed the ones we got to the fullest. After our tomato jam experience (kudos to Jennifer for winning the food52 best preserves contest with her recipe!), the […]
7 FoodieTots.com » Blog Archive » At the Bloomingdale Farmers Market (and Sunday BLTJs) // May 25, 2010 at 7:42 am
[…] home, I made a quick lunch of BLTJ’s — last summer’s tomato jam standing in for fresh tomatoes. (Okay, and technically it’s a BATJ, as I used arugula in […]
8 Bacon Jalepeño Grilled Cheese (National Grilled Cheese Day) // Apr 12, 2013 at 10:02 am
[…] grilled cheese. But when they’re not in season, you can get a similar effect with a smear of jam, preserves, or in this case, peach […]
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