I recently met with a lovely women’s group in Rhumpi and they taught me how to make tomato jam. Now, I know what you are thinking because I thought the same thing too.

Tomato jam? Gross!

But no! It is weirdly delicious. It’s not like tomato paste or sauce, it tastes like an actual fruit jam. Almost like tomatoes were finally tired of posing as vegetables and decided to be their true fruit selves.

I wanted to learn this process so I could introduce it to my local women’s groups as a way to diversify diet and provide some food security. Tomatoes are incredibly plentiful here. They are absolutely everywhere. Look at this picture taken by Elise Kendall of the market we went to last week.

I’m telling you, tomatoes are EVERYWHERE.

If the women are able to make their tomato product into something different than that of every other street vendor, it also helps them to create more revenue.

Making the tomatoes into jam allows for longer storage and can help cut down on food waste. During the process, you can save the seeds and incorporate them into a home garden as well. There is also an opportunity to sell the jam to generate income, though the process is slightly more complicated and expensive than just making the jam for home use. So many opportunities, so little jam! So…let’s learn how to make some!

Tomato Jam Recipe

12 (or so) medium tomatoes
1 lemon
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt

Step 1. Rinse tomatoes and place them in a pot filled with enough water to just cover the tomatoes. Bring the water to a boil.

Step 2. Once boiling, remove tomatoes from the water and remove the peels. They should tear off very easily after this process known in the U.S. as blanching.

Step 3. Shred the now-peeled tomatoes with a grater of some kind to remove the large, unusable chunks.

Step 4. Strain the tomato mush to remove any last bit of tomato chunks and the seeds. If you prefer to keep the seeds and the chunks in the jam that is fine, straining isn’t necessary. It just helps the jam thicken.

Step 5. Add sugar to the tomato mixture at a ratio of 2:1, meaning for every 2 parts of tomato mush add 1 part sugar. If you prefer less sweet jam, do a ratio of 3:1.

Step 6. Place mixture back over heat and simmer. Time varies, but continue cooking down until the jam has reached a relatively thick consistency. This took us about forty minutes, stirring constantly.

Step 7. Once thickening has occurred, add juice from one lemon and some lemon zest and continue to simmer. The lemon acts as a preservative and as a thickening agent, so don’t skip it!

Step 8. After jam has reached the desired consistency, remove from heat and pour in a jar.

Step 9. Enjoy!

This same recipe can be followed using papaya, mango, or almost any other fleshy fruit! This jam can be used similarly to any jam, put on toast or scones, but I would also highly recommend basting some chicken with it and serving it with rice. Just a suggestion…