Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

tomato preserves

(1 rating)
Recipe by
Cinna Bun

This recipe started out of needing something sweet canned for the winter. I don't have any fruit trees and things have become expensive. What I did have was an abundance of tomatoes. So I decided to use this in place of fruit. It became a favorite with the family, now we crave it. Also it is good as a condiment on meats and sandwiches.

(1 rating)
yield 12 half pints
prep time 1 Hr
cook time 6 Hr
method Canning/Preserving

Ingredients For tomato preserves

  • 3 qt
    fresh tomatoes about 16 cups
  • 4 c
    sugar
  • 4 c
    light brown sugar
  • 1 tsp
    ground allspice
  • 1 tsp
    ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp
    ground cloves
  • 1 tsp
    cinnamon, ground
  • 2 md
    lemons
  • 1 tsp
    salt

How To Make tomato preserves

  • 1
    Peel tomatoes with a boiling water bath, put the tomatoes in the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove and put into a sink of cold water. Slip off peelings and cut out core. Squeeze the tomatoes over a colander to remove most of the juice and seeds, then squeeze the tomato into a large pan, breaking up the tomato in the process.
  • 2
    Slice the lemons very very thin use peeling and all, take out the seeds though. Now cut up the lemons into small pieces and add to the tomatoes. Add all the rest of the ingredients and turn the heat to medium high. Cook to a boil until the sugar has dissolved.
  • 3
    Once the sugar has dissolved, pre- heat the oven to 275 degrees. Put the tomato mixture into a roasting pan and cook on the bottom shelf of you oven for about 6 hours or until it is very thick and most of the juice is gone. You don't need to watch it very carefully but stir it every couple of hours. The smell will be so delightful. I usually start mine in the afternoon and when I go to bed I just turn off the oven and leave until the next morning.
  • 4
    Sterilize 12 half pint jars , heat the lids. Heat the tomato preserves back up if you had left them overnight. Heat up the water for your hot water bath.Put the tomato preserves into the jars, wipe the tops clean and put on your hot lids and bands. Cook in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Start counting the time when the water comes back up to a slow boil. After the water bath remove the jars and sit them on a towel to cool.
  • 5
    These make great gift for Christmas. They are also good to use on pork chops or a turkey sandwich. And of course you can use it on toast. Use a little cream cheese with this on a bagel yum yum
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