Green Tomato Jam

Thick & Chunky Jam on Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

 The ubiquitous Green Tomato. You can find them in stores, gardens, and artwork most places in the southeastern United States. Outside of this region it passes largely unnoticed, merely a tomato that isn't ready for picking just yet. But we know better. The flavor, while not as rich as a ripe, juicy red, is extremely tart, fairly sweet, and comes with a satisfying crunch. When subjected to heat, the flavor is enhanced greatly. The crunch, not so much.

The first "before" shot

Now, when people familiar with the niftiness of Green Tomatoes think of cooking them, the first (and often only) recipe that leaps to mind is the classic Fried Green Tomato. Now, they are awesome, don't get me wrong. But everyone who cooks them has their own variation, and there are many websites dedicated to the "perfect" Fried Green Tomato.  If you've come to this page because you're looking for such a recipe, then I'm so very sorry. Not today. Point of fact, I've had to make so many of them lately that I'm just about sick of the process. My workspace as of late has been filled with the remnants of a flour dredge station and the trimmings from a few hundred of the little green bastards.

Tip of the iceburg.

 On the other hand, one of my pet peeves is wasting food. I will often go to great lengths to find uses for trimmings, bones, and the like. And despite my annoyance with the recipe at the time, I do very much like Green Tomatoes. I can't just get rid of them. After some thought, I gather up as much as possible and set my sights on making Jam.

Now, the beauty part about making Jam is that it is AMAZINGLY simple. You have your fruit. You have your sugar. You combine the two over heat and let it roll for a while - done. The only thing you have to deal with is the ratio. There are many who will use additives to assist with the gelling process, like pectin or gelatin. You can do this if you like, but I prefer to take a simpler approach. Green Tomatoes in particular do not require additional gelling ingredients and can be adapted to Jam with an extremely simple ratio:

2 parts diced Green Tomato
1 part Sugar

Jam in progress, pure tomato.

Understand, this is by volume, not by weight. For example, my last batch had approximately 16 cups of Green Tomato trimmings (1 gallon) and 8 cups of white, granulated sugar (half gallon). Truth be told, I used a little less sugar than that. I'm not an overly huge fan of very sweet food in the first place and I wanted to preserve the tarter flavor of the Tomatoes somewhat.

My first batch was pure tomato. I wanted to get a feel for the timing and flavor without outside influence. My recipe looked something like this:

What you need:

7 cups Green Tomatoes, diced
3 1/2 cups White, Granulated Sugar
1 oz. Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp salt

What you do:

-Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan or small stockpot over medium high heat.
-Bring to a low boil, stirring occasionally.
-Reduce to medium heat and let it roll, stirring occasionally, until your tomatoes are translucent and juices are thickened somewhat. This recipe required about an hour and a half of cook time.

It should look something like this.

Now, you can cool this as is and store in the refrigerator, or you can immediately pour into glass jars and initiate basic canning procedures. (Here are some ideas to get you started.) If it seems a little thin, don't worry. It will thicken quite a bit as it cools.

 I have stored uncanned Green Tomato Jam in my home refrigerator for six weeks without it going bad. It very well may have lasted for longer, but it was eaten by that time. I can say that it does can very well, however.


In my latest foray into the wonderful world of Green Tomato Jam, I changed things up a little bit. First, I added  two Jalapeno Peppers into the mix. This did three things for it: 1) Provided just a tiny amount of heat (obviously), 2) Gave a little color variation in the finished product, and 3) provided a wonderful complexity of flavor without detracting from the Tomatoey goodness.

Just hitting the stovetop

 Second, I made my dices smaller. This means less cook time. Less cook time means fresher flavor overall.

Third, less sugar. Personal preference, taste the fruit more than the sweet.

The quick break down:

What you need:

1 gallon Green Tomatoes, small dice
6 cups White Granulated Sugar
2 Jalapenos, seeded and diced small
3 oz Lemon Juice

What you do: 


-Combine all ingredients in a  stockpot over high heat.
-Bring to a low boil, stirring occasionally.
-Reduce to medium heat and let it roll, stirring occasionally, until your tomatoes are translucent and juices are thickened somewhat. This recipe required about an hour of cook time.

Green Tomato & Jalapeno Jam - Finished Product

At first, this jam-in-the-making will smell strongly of peppers. Don't worry, just keep cooking and it will come out fine. Also, this recipe seems to mellow and mature with a little storage time. The jam will be great the first day, don't get me wrong. You may have a greater appreciation for it after a week or two, is all.