This sweet spread is an easy way to enjoy summer’s tomato harvest long after the season has ended. Add it to a charcuterie board for a gourmet touch, or gift a jar to your favorite epicure.
I first tasted cherry tomato jam many years ago at a local brasserie, where they served it alongside grilled calamari and an array of house cured meats on a charcuterie board. What a revelation! It was so wonderfully sweet and summery, and its flavor harmonized with everything on my plate. Each time I dined there I made sure to order something that had tomato jam as an accompaniment.
This year I planted cherry tomatoes in my little 6′ x 11′ garden outside the workshop with designs to replicate my favorite tomato jam. And boy, did I ever have a bumper crop!
My favorite little tomato.
The variety of cherry tomato I planted is called “Sweet Millions”. I’ve planted “Sweet 100s” before, which yielded a good crop of tomatoes, but I’ve never seen anything like the grape-like clusters on the Sweet Millions plant. I counted about 32 tomatoes on just one cluster!
If anyone is interested in growing this variety next year, I purchased my live plant from Grow Joy, right here. Back in March when I was planning my garden, I wasn’t doing any shopping at local nurseries or home and garden centers, so I was happy to find a company that would ship live plants. They have some unusual offerings that aren’t available to me locally, and a unique way of packing the plants so they don’t get damaged.
Getting it right.
My best friend also loves the brasserie’s tomato jam, and so together we worked to get the closest flavor approximation. Lots of tomato jam recipes add strong spices such as cloves or they incorporate hot peppers. This is not our jam. The jam we know and love has unadulterated sweet tomato flavor, so our recipe has very few ingredients – but each one is important!
A note about canning jars – I can’t find any at the grocery store right now! This makes me think eeeeverybody is currently canning their summer harvest. Luckily I had some jars squirreled away from last year, but if you’re coming up empty handed, then consider upcycling. Used jam jars and pasta sauce jars with screw-top lids can be washed and sterilized in hot water. You won’t be able to process these in a water bath, but this jam keeps for 6 months in the refrigerator.
If you’re like me and have cherry tomatoes coming out of your ears, then THIS! This is what to do with them! The jam is wonderful with savory fare, but it’s also good as a simple smear on a buttered baguette.
Our current obsession is eating it on wheat crackers with goat cheese and a leaf of fresh basil on top, but the possibilities are endless!
Cherry Tomato Jam
Equipment
- Water bath canner
- Four 4 oz. jars
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs. organic vine-ripened cherry tomatoes
- 2 cups 400g granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
Instructions
- Wash tomatoes thoroughly and remove stems. Gently pat dry with a soft tea towel.
- Place the tomatoes, sugar, lemon juice, and water in a large stock pot. Place over medium heat and stir until tomatoes are coated with sugar. Cook until the sugar is dissolved, mashing the tomatoes with a large wooden spoon or spatula as you stir. Increase the heat to medium-high. Stir in the salt and pepper. The mixture may foam as it cooks; when foam rises to the top, skim it off with a large spoon.
- Stir frequently to ensure the tomatoes are cooking evenly, until most of the liquid has cooked off. The mixture is ready when it has a glossy appearance, the tomato skins are translucent, and it has a slightly sticky consistency. This may take up to 1 hour, or longer depending on how juicy your tomatoes are.
- Ladle the jam into sterilized canning jars and lid. Let rest at room temperature until cool. Store the jam in the refrigerator for up to six months.
- If canning these for long-term storage, process the jars in a water bath canner with boiling water that covers the tops of the jars. Time the jars at 15 minutes when the water starts boiling again after adding them to the canning pot. Remove the jars from the water bath and allow them to stand until the lids seal (with a satisfying ‘pop’!).
- Serve tomato jam over goat cheese with crackers, or alongside a charcuterie board. Serve with seafood, or use it to fancy-up fried potatoes of all kinds!
What a wonderfully simple recipe to preserve your harvest (that yields great flavor). However … I would call this '100 tomato jam' because it literally took double the recipe called for (of Sweet 100s) to make 1 pint worth. After trying my hand at this, I realized that the foaming and spooning off of liquid really helps to reduce the number of seeds in the jam. I made a third batch using 50 Tasty Treat tomatoes (closer to golf ball size vs. cherry) and was able to achieve a 'meatier' jam. Thanks for sharing! Loved it.
Hi Liz! Thanks for sharing your feedback. Wow, that's crazy how it took double for you to get a good yield with sweet 100's. I did notice that the sweet millions are slightly meatier than a sweet 100. I'm making a batch with golden cherry tomatoes today. I'm eager to see how the yield differs (or if it does at all).
Thanks again!
Currently making this right now. Does the jam thicken up after you put it in jars and it cools down?
Yes, it does thicken upon standing. If you're not sure it's ready to jar, I have a quick test. Put a plate in the freezer for 15 minutes. Remove it from the freezer and place a drop of hot jelly on the plate. Run your finger through it and if it stays divided it's ready! If the jelly runs back together then cook a little longer.
Also just wanted to add that most jams and jellies have a setting point of 220°F. If you have an instant read thermometer you can test it that way also.
This was easy and delicious!
Can this be stored at room temp in the pantry or does it need to always be refrigerated?
If you use a water bath canner to seal the jars, then they can be stored at room temp for a few years. If you don't can them in a water bath, then they need to be refrigerated and will keep in the fridge for up to 6 months.
Have you ever used yellow pear tomatoes?
Hi Telena, I haven’t, but I am growing some this year so I might try it out. I think they’d work just fine!
just wondering what size Mason Jars should we be using to Yield 4Jars for the 1X receipe?
Hi Krista! 4 oz. jars. I’ve added this to the equipment section on the recipe card.
Taste was great but it’s not thickening up.
An addendum to my comment – I hated to throw out my cherry tomatos so I cooked it overnight in the crockpot with the lid off and it thickened up to a jam consistency.
Hi Christine,
It sounds like your initial cooking of the jam wasn’t quite long enough. Most of the liquid should be cooked off before you jar the mixture. If your tomatoes are especially juicy, this may take a while. I’m glad you found a way to make the recipe work.
Followed your recipe and came out perfect. Really pretty in the jars. Thank you!
So glad to hear this! Thank you for trying the recipe.
I gave this a try with half recipe. Wish I had given it a go earlier in the season, when I kept giving away my little gems, since I had so many. I used a potato masher to smash them gently and added a little bit of balsamic vinegar. As I stirred, the skins easily rolled up and were easy to remove. Now I can’t wait til next season and hope I get as many grape tomatoes as I did this year. What a great gift!
after boiling down for about 30 min, it didn’t seem to be anywhere near setting. So off heat, I added 2 T powdered pectin and returned to a full boil for one minute. It passed the “dropping jam from a metal cooling spoon test” and set up slightly loose, but perfect for spreading on toast. I didn’t add the pepper, and added the lemon juice at the end. I made a 1 and a 1/2 batch and have requests for more. Great use of bumper crop when all tomatoes are busting out all over..
Great recipe! I used Sungold tomatoes and spiced it up with some hot pepper. I’ll definitely be making this again!
So easy to make and so yummy! Thanks for the simple but great recipe. I have so many cherry tomatoes coming on, so I am going to make a few more batches and give some away to friends!
Hi,
I made this tomato jam recipe.
What a surprise, it is wonderful the taste WOW!!!
I just made this and everyone loves it! My dad took one bite and told me to make more. I ended up bringing home maybe 10 lbs worth of different tomatoes and had no idea what to do with them so this was a perfect thing to try.
Thanks for the recipe!