SPICED TOMATO JAM

Spiced Tomato Jam image

I grew up eating tomato jam at Grandma's house. While grape and strawberry were good enough for my family, it was Gram's orange sweetness that I preferred. And then she passed away, and I thought it gone forever. Truly, this recipe does not taste like hers, and I've scoured the women-folk of my family for the recipe, to no...

Provided by Nicole Bredeweg

Number Of Ingredients 8

Ingredients

6 c chopped tomatoes (approximately 5 pounds)
1/4 c lime juice (store bought - do not use fresh)
1-1/2 tsp grated lime peel
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
3-1/2 c sugar
2 Tbsp liquid pectin

Steps:

1. Combine tomatoes, juice, peel, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and sugar in Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 - 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Place a plate in the freezer.
2. Prepare your jars -- wash in sudsy water, then rinse. Place in the canner rack in your stock pot. Fill the pot with water, being sure to cover the jars by 1". Turn the heat onto high. If you achieve a boil before the recipe is done, turn it down to a simmer, maintaining the heat, but trying to prevent loss of liquid to evaporation.
3. If you have the room on your stove, place another large pot of water on to boil. Drop your lids in. Once the water boils, turn this down to a simmer, as well.
4. After the first hour of simmering, check the jam mixture for consistency. Pull out the plate from the freezer, place a dab of jam on it, then put back in the freezer for 10 minutes. When you pull it out, run a finger through. If the jam mixture doesn't flow back into the trail, it's not ready and should continue to simmer for another 15 minutes, or as the consistency decrees. Repeat as necessary. You can start skimming off any foam with a metal spoon. Continue to do so, right up until ladling into the jars.
5. Once consistency has been achieved, use a hand blender to even out the consistency, making it as smooth or clumpy as you desire. Add the liquid pectin. Turn heat up to medium-high, bring to a boil, and boil for one minute, stirring constantly.
6. Remove from heat. Pull a hot jar from the stock pot and fill with jam mixture, leaving a 1/4" head room. Wipe the rim clean, pull a jar lid from the other pot, then put a band on, to finger tightness. Place back into the stock pot. Repeat, until jam jars are filled.
7. Process as a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. (That is, bring the water back to a boil. If it's not longer 1" over the top of the jam jars, pour the cap water in until it is. Add hot tap water, if you still don't have enough.)
8. Note - once I achieved the proper consistency, I ended up with exactly 3 1/2-pint jar + 2 pieces of buttered and jammed bread. Prepare more jars, of course, just in case.