It's Been Found at Last - Tomato Jelly

Okay, so I don't eat a lot of PB&J, but occasionally I do and I happen to like grape jelly.

I was never into making jams and jellies, it looked too complicated and I had no idea what a jelly bag was. That was about ten years ago and then I had one of those bumper crops of tomatoes.

I made tomato sauce, soup, salsa, pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes.

I dehydrated tomatoes, gave away tomatoes and still I had a bushel of tomatoes (that's 53 lbs).




Then I happened on a recipe for tomato jelly. Actual jelly, not a preserve, or jam, but real jelly. So having no clue how to do this properly, I followed the directions and man oh man, it was the best jelly ever. The kids were eating it straight out of the jar. (I had to bean them once or twice to get them to stop) This stuff is even better than grape jelly. Time goes buy and I don't have such bumper crops in the ensuing years and there is tons of tomato jelly on the shelf (or so I thought).

This year was a really weird growing season. It was warm early (May was in the 50s) and warm late (October was in the 80s). We didn't get our first frost until a few days ago and we are sitting in the middle of a deep freeze now. (Temps are in the teens). Anyway, the tomatoes didn't ripen on the vine. I had about three bushels of green tomatoes still on the plants. Mid October, fearing a freeze, I harvested the green tomatoes, placed them in a cardboard box and waited for them to ripen. I had to do a second harvest a week later. In all I ended up with nearly two and a half bushels.

I had already put up plenty of tomato products from those that had ripened earlier, so what do you do with so many tomatoes after they ripen? You make jelly of course! So I looked in my recipe file, in my cookbooks, in my secret recipe hiding place (I really need to organize that), and even online. Nope, couldn't find it. (it had been a few years) A Google search for "tomato jelly" brought about 1,900,000 results (0.40 seconds). So I looked at about 50 different sites for the recipe, all but one were recipes for jams, conserves and the like. There are even recipes that use canned tomato juice and Jello that are called jellies, really?

Preserves is used to describe all types of jams and jellies.
Jam typically contains both the juice and flesh of a fruit or vegetable
Conserve or whole fruit jam, is a jam made of fruit stewed in sugar.
Jelly refers to a clear or translucent fruit spread made from sweetened fruit (or vegetable) juice.

I don't remember what I searched for or how I got there, but I found a tomato JELLY recipe finally. I cannot express how excited I was. It wasn't the same recipe, but I could work with it.

This is not a step by step tutorial, just pictures as I worked.

Sliced Romas (yes I use a filet knife)

Cooking it down

After it's drained

This is tomato juice

See how clear it is

Jars are filled

Finished Product. Ain't it purdy?

And now for the recipe (adapted from Bernardin Pectin)

Tomato Jelly 

Yield 7-1/2 pints

8 cups (2L) sliced tomatoes

1/2 cup (125 ml) water

2 tsp pepper sauce (I used Tabasco)

3/4 cup (175 ml) coarsely chopped fresh basil or

  1 tbsp (15 ml) dried basil

2 tbsp (30 ml) lemon juice (lime juice works too)

1 pkg powdered pectin

3-1/4 cups (800 ml) granulated sugar

1/2 tsp butter or margarine (optional)

• In a large deep stainless steel saucepan, combine tomatoes, water, pepper sauce and basil. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring and crushing tomatoes occasionally, until tomatoes are softened, about 25 minutes.

• Transfer tomato mixture to a dampened jelly bag or a strainer lined with several layers of dampened cheesecloth set over a deep bowl. Let drip, undisturbed, for about 2 hours. Measure 1-3/4 cups (425 ml) tomato juice. If you do not have the required amount, add 1/2 cup (125 ml) boiling water to the remaining pulp in the jelly bag to extract additional juice. (Or add unsweetened apple or white grape juice to extend the juice to the required measure.)

• Place 7 clean 1/2 pint (125 ml) mason jars on a rack in a boiling water canner; cover jars with water and heat to a simmer (180°F/82°C). Set screw bands aside. Heat lids in hot water, not boiling (180°F/82°C). Keep jars and lids hot until ready to use.

• Measure sugar; set aside.

• Transfer tomato juice to a large, deep stainless steel saucepan. Add lemon juice. Whisk in pectin until dissolved and add 1/2 tsp (2 ml) butter or margarine to reduce foaming, if desired.

• Over high heat, bring mixture to a full rolling boil. Add all the sugar. Stirring constantly, return mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat; skim foam if necessary.

• Quickly ladle hot jelly into a hot jar to within 1/4 inch (.5 cm) of top rim (headspace). Using nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Center hot sealing disc on clean jar rim. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. Return filled jar to rack in canner ensuring jars are covered by water. Repeat for remaining jelly.

• When canner is filled, ensure that all jars are covered by at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water. Cover canner and bring water to full rolling boil before starting to count processing time. At altitudes up to 1000 ft (305 m), process – boil filled jars – 10 minutes.*

• When processing time is complete, turn stove off, remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars without tilting and place them upright on a protected work surface. Cool upright, undisturbed 24 hours; DO NOT RETIGHTEN screw bands.

• After cooling check jar seals. Lids curve downward and do not move when pressed. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars, as desired. Label and store jars in a cool, dark place. For best quality, use home canned foods within one year.