I’ve been on vacation for the last few days and it has been ridiculously nice. We’ve slept late, wandered around small towns, and even discovered a store devoted to homemade jams and pickles. Still, I didn’t want to leave this space unloved for too long and so am dropping in to tell you about a few of my recipes that have recently appeared elsewhere and a podcast on which I recently appeared.
The first is a story I did for Table Matters about savory jams. It contains a spicy yellow tomato jam, a sweet onion and roasted red pepper butter (this one isn’t safe for canning), and an apricot chutney with shallots and sage (this could also be made with peaches if apricots are done where you are). They are all the kinds of things that are great for serving with cheeses, slathering on homemade pizza dough, and spreading into sandwiches.
The second is a piece on fruit ketchups for Saveur’s website that’s been many months in the making. I wrote a short piece on the history of ketchup (did you know that the earliest ketchups were made with mushrooms and fermented oysters?) and then developed an array of homemade ketchup recipes. The four that made the final cut were blueberry chipotle, tomatillo and roasted green chile, sweet cherry, and beet. I love them all, but am particularly obsessed with the tomatillo version. I need to make a second batch before their season is over.
The last thing is that I was recently a guest on a podcast called The New Disruptors. I had such a good time chatting with host Glenn Fleishman and I’m delighted by how well the whole thing turned out.
I have a question about the tomato jam. What happens to the skins? Do they dissolve? Or should they be peeled or blended?
You don’t need to do anything to the skins. Just slice the tomatoes and use them as-is. I will always give instruction in my recipes if you need to peel or puree. Trust me, it works just as written.
I’m going to give that tomatillo recipe a whirl! We have tomatillos in our garden this year. 🙂
We also have a lot of peppers in our garden, can I substitute fresh by roasting them myself?
I actually used freshly roasted peppers in that butter. It was just easier in the written recipe not to include the roasting step and let people choose whether to roast their own or use the bottled variety.
I’m very curious about that beet ketchup. Is it really good?? I have some golden beets in my fridge that I was going to use for juicing, but this sounds interesting!
I think it’s really good. Because beets are so dense, you get good texture without too much cooking time, and their natural sweetness means that you don’t have to add a lot of sugar.
It is amazing!
I can’t wait to try some of those ketchup recipes! I was JUST telling my husband that I had read in your book that it was only recently that tomatoes came to dominate the ketchup realm (he was a little grossed out by the fermented mushrooms :).
I have a ton of rhubarb this year and am looking to get a little more creative this year and make some savory things (in addition to jam). Any suggestions? Chutneys or sauces? I’ve made rhubarb bbq sauce once and it was yummy.
That savory tomato jam looks amazing – I will definitely be trying it. I made a batch of the yellow tomato basil jam a while back and my family loved it, but it was actually a tad bit sweet for me.
By the way I was in your jams class at Brooklyn Kitchen last weekend and loved it. Even though I’d done some canning before, having the chance to ask questions has made me much more confident in what I’m doing. Thanks!
Hi there, would you mind sharing a little about the jars with the black lids? Are they home canning safe? Where do you get them? Thanks!
Here’s the post I wrote about them: https://foodinjars.com/2013/07/how-to-can-in-hex-jars-with-lug-lids/
I’m looking to make the Sweet Cherry Ketchup — it sounds delicious! I’ve noticed that the instructions mention honey, but none is listed in the ingredients list. How much honey should I use?
Oh no! They left out the honey. It should have one cup of honey in it.
Marissa, I had some yellow/orange tomatoes growing this year (lost the tag don’t know what they are) and thought they’d be pretty in your jam. Alas, not much over a pound so I added in some red toms and those buggers’ skin was not fun in the final product. (You don’t even see the yellow ones!) My daughter came over for a visit just as I was assembling the jam ingredients and in the happy chaos I left out the salt but the jam still tasted amazing! It was originally going to be a gift for my foodie sister but now I’m thinking one jar needs to stay here with me. You give us the most amazing recipes, thank you!
Saveur? Awesome stuff, Lady.
Thanks Aimee!
I loved the ketchup recipes in Saveur and plan on making all of them! Can the Beet Ketchup be canned? I note that the recipe only lists steps 1 and 2, but then omits any reference to canning.
You had a jar of apricot sage jam at a canning demo I attended. Tried it, loved it, needed to make it! When I got home I was disappointed to not find the recipe in your book or on the site. I was SO happy you posted it on Table Matters!!! Made it today. No apricots so used white fleshed nectarines. Also, no fresh sage so used rubbed sage leaf. Oh, and one of my shallots was nasty so had to sub in a little white onion. It turned out great! I wasn’t sure if my husband would like it but now I think I have to hide it! Thanks Marisa!