As much as I like my original tomato jam, every few summers I feel compelled to try a different version. This maple sugar sweetened version is sunny, earthy, and bright. As you head into the end of the season and find yourself with more small tomatoes than you know what to do with, this jam might of of use.
Some notes. You can also make a half batch, if you don’t have quite the necessary volume. And if maple sugar is too pricy, try using Sucanat instead. It’s a really grainy, less refined cane sugar that has a lot of flavor.
Sungold Tomato and Maple Jam
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 pounds Sungold tomatoes or other small, sweet tomatoes
- 3 cups maple sugar
- 1/2 cup bottled lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Prepare a boiling water bath and sufficient jars.
- Cut the tomatoes in half and heap them in a wide, nonreactive pan with the sugar, lemon juice, ginger, chili flakes, salt, and pepper.
- Stir to combine. Place the pot on the stove over high heat and bring the contents to a boil. Once you've achieved a really vigorous boil, reduce the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring regularly, until the jam reduces a great deal and begins to get thick and glossy.
- As you near the end of cooking, stir constantly to ensure that the jam doesn't burn.
- When you judge the jam to be done, remove the pot from the heat.
- Funnel the finished jam into the prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.
- When the time is up, remove the jars and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. When the jars have cooled enough that you can comfortably handle them, check the seals. Sealed jars can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly.
Approximately how may cups would 3 1/2 pounds be?
I don’t know. I didn’t measure them that way.
‘d love to make this with my plethora of Sun Golds. I have a lot of local maple syrup, but no maple sugar. Is there an adjustment for substituting syrup for the sugar?
Unfortunately, maple syrup isn’t a viable substitution because of its lower acidity. That’s why I offered up the suggestion of Sucanat in the body of the post.
Can any of your tomato jam recipes be canned in pints? What would the wb time be?
You can always move between pints and half pints. Processing time is the same.
Marisa,
Unfortunately I have not been able to find maple sugar or sucanat in the stores near me. Would light brown sugar work? or regular sugar? I understand that it would no longer have the maple flavor, I just want to make sure the acidity level would not be affected. I’m fairly new to canning.
Sincerely,
Liana
Regular sugar would be fine. Sugar does not impact the acidity.
Marisa
We made this recipe using sucanat The flavor was good. Our only question/comment was that all the tomato skins were not pleasant. Do you have a suggestion on how to eliminate or decrease the amount of the skins.
Love this recipe idea as a great use of my over abundant sun gold tomatoes.
Perhaps running through a blender or using an immersion blender to chop them finer
That’s always what I would suggest. You could also work the finished jam through a food mill. I like the texture that the skins offer, but I get that they’re not for everybody.
I was looking for a way to use my over abundance of Sungold tomatoes and found this recipe…looks great! But am curious, how do you eat this jam? Cream cheese and crackers? Give me some ideas please!
On roasted sweet potatoes. On turkey burgers. On a BLT in the winter when good tomatoes aren’t available. With cheese and crackers. As a glaze for chicken or pork.
On sandwiches! There’s a local restaurant that puts their version on ham sandwiches and it’s amazing! I think it would go on a lot of different sandwiches, but here’s how they use it: It has sliced pork, cheddar, caramelized onions, tomato jam, and pickles on it and it is divine! I’d also try it on eggs and with cottage cheese. Pound a chicken breast thin, spread this on it with some spinach and cheese, and roll. Use toothpicks to secure and bake seam side down at 400° for 40 minutes. Delish!
Just made this as written and it’s a winner. Is it safe to can this with brown sugar? I think this would be so tasty with brown sugar instead of maple and extra chili flakes, but I don’t want to impact the safety of the canning! Thank you!!
I’m so glad you like it. It’s fine to use brown sugar, it doesn’t have any impact on safety.
I made this using 1.75 pounds of various cherry tomatoes for a half batch. This may be a dumb question, but is halving the 1/2 cup of lemon juice acceptable for acidifying purposes?
If you cut the recipe in half, you also cut the lemon juice in half.