We have the best tomato jam in the State, right here!
At the recent annual State Conference of CWA NSW new member of the Grenfell Evening CWA branch, Anne Gault, won first prize for her tomato jam in the Land Cookery competition.
Anne also placed second for her short story in the CWA’s Literature competition, an original ‘thriller’ interpretation of the set theme, “The Recipe”.
Anne joined the CWA as a teenager, and has been entering her cooking, jams and preserves in local shows for many years now.
She recently transferred from Quandialla in to the Grenfell branch, and had success at zone competition to represent the region at the State conference in Wagga Wagga.
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For those, like your correspondent, who haven't tried tomato jam, Anne recommends it as a very sweet jam, good on bread or toast, and the version with ginger is particularly good.
The secrets to success are outlined in her recipe, shared below, but key is boiling it down well to a thick pulp before you put the sugar in.
"Tomato jam is very hard to set because it's not an acidic fruit, there's not much pectin in it," Anne said.
"You'll only get a soft set - you just need it set enough so it doesn't run off the toast."
Anne also won first prize for her peach blossom cake at the Bega Conference several years ago.
Other local winners at state level with CWA are Esma Baker, Lola Madden, Pam Clifton and Quandialla’s Melba Edgerton who won first prize two years in a row for her lumberjack cake.
The prize-winning recipe, with thanks to Anne Gault:
Many people do not realise that tomatoes can be made into jam despite all trivia fans knowing that tomatoes are in fact a fruit.
It is quite easy to make.
1. Peel tomatoes and boil until pulp. Choose nicely coloured tomatoes and cut out any harder white bits. Peel by dropping the tomatoes into boiling water, count to 8 and then put into cold water to stop the cooking process – the skin will then peel off. As tomatoes boil down a lot use at least 3 lb/1.5 kg and cook until there is no free liquid, just pulp.
2. Add white sugar in the ratio of 3:4, e.g. ¾ lb of sugar to 1 lb of fruit, and boil strongly stirring regularly until the jam feels thick, looks glossy and a bit on a saucer in the frig wrinkles on top. Tomatoes haven’t much pectin so you will only ever get a ‘soft set’.
3. Pour into jars and seal by preferred method – screwing on the lid while jam is hot, in the microwave?
There are a number of variations you can make with tomato jam.
Adding finely chopped crystallised ginger creates tomato and ginger jam which is delicious. Some people like to add lemon juice.
You can add chopped fresh pineapple or a tin of crushed pineapple to make tomato and pineapple jam – if using fresh add sugar in the same ratio of 3:4 e.g. if adding 100 gr pineapple add 75 gr sugar. And a tin of passionfruit pulp or fresh passionfruit makes an attractive jam – again if using fresh passionfruit add extra sugar in ratio.
You can also make jam from green tomatoes. Choose well-coloured fruit and don’t attempt to peel them – just slice thinly and if the pulp seems a bit lumpy beat it with an egg-beater. Green tomato jam has a different flavour but nice.
Happy jam-making!
