Tomato Preserves

Picture taken from Pinterest

I raise both red and yellow tomatoes.  This is the perfect recipe to make a batch using each and you will have beautiful jewel toned preserves.

Tomato Preserves

1 pound     -    Tomatoes (firm and ripe)

1/2             -    Lemon - thinly sliced

3/4 Cup     -    Water

1 2/3 Cup  -    Sugar

Core and then dip tomatoes in boiling water, then cold water to remove skins.  Cut in quarters.

Boil lemon slices and 1/4 cup water 5 minutes.

Heat 1/2 cup water and sugar; simmer 5 minutes to make a syrup.

Combine sugar syrup, tomatoes, lemon slices and lemon liquid and boil until tomatoes are clear and syrup thickens slightly.  Stir to keep from sticking.  Skim foam off and discard.  Consistency will vary depending on variety of tomato.  

Ladle into hot jars; seal.  Process for 15 minutes.  Makes 2-3 half pints.  

Good General Information   

Preserves are not as thick as jelly which makes it good to serve as a condiment for meat or as the base for bruschetta.

There are literally thousands of recipes for preserving tomatoes on the internet.  Many look fabulous.  If I haven't used a recipe before, I usually only make a small quantity to make sure we like everything about the taste and looks.

ALWAYS taste your finished product before canning.  It's the time to adjust seasonings or if it's a total bad news bust, compost before you waste any more time and resources processing.

No matter what a new recipe says, ALWAYS & ALWAYS follow good canning practices.  That includes cleanliness, cook times, processing times and ingredient quantities.