Tomato Orange Preserve
When I was a kid, my grandmother used to make a fantastic tomato jam. But those days, we didn’t really eat bread. It was either roti or rice. So since we’d have nothing to eat the jam with, we’d just lick it off a cup. This recipe for a tomato orange preserve is a tribute to my grandmother and my childhood days with her. I’ve attempted to recreate the same taste and texture of her tomato preserve but with a twist of orange. It also has no artificial colours or preservatives so it’s safe for children!
Ingredients
Ripe tomatoes – 1.5 kg
Oranges (Mandarin variety) – 4 to 6
Sugar – as required (see method point 3)
Salt – 1/4 tsp
Lemon/lime juice – 1 tbsp
Yield
1000 – 1250 gms
Prep time
25 mins
Cook time
~40 mins
Method
1) Wash the tomatoes and chop them roughly. Transfer to a mixer/grinder jar and grind to a pulp (without adding water). Set aside.
2) De-skin and separate the orange segments. De-seed the segments and cut them to chunks.
3) Take the pureed tomato and the orange chunks together in a bowl. Measure the pulp with the orange chunks, using a cup. Take equal quantity of sugar and add to the tomato-orange pulp.
4) Now transfer the tomato, orange and sugar mixture to a heavy bottomed pan/kadai. Heat the pan and bring the mixture to a boil on medium heat. Keep stirring the mixture constantly. The sugar will melt due to heat and the mixture will become slightly watery, continue to cook (stir the mixture constantly). Add salt and mix.
5) After about 15 mins of cooking on medium heat, reduce the heat and allow the mixture to cook on minimum heat for a further 15 to 20 mins. By now the tomato orange preserve would have thickened. Add the lemon juice at this stage and mix well.
6) Just allow the preserve to cook for a further 5 mins on minimum heat and switch off the heat.
7) The preserve should now be in the right consistency with a glossy look. (if you’ve never made a jam/preserve before, check out the tips section of Mango Plum preserve!). Remove the pan from the stove top and let it cool completely.
8) Transfer the preserve to a clean sterilised bottle and refrigerate. This Tomato Orange preserve will stay fresh for 6 months when refrigerated correctly.
Notes
- Use fully ripe tomatoes to make this Tomato Orange Preserve. Also, I’ve used mandarin type oranges which were sweet and pulpy. I like the orange chunks in the preserve for added zing. You can also use any other pulpy, sweet variety like tangerines or blood oranges.
- Do not remove the inner most skin of the orange segments. This way the chunks don’t disintegrate that much and become mushy while cooking. The chunks in the preserve are an amazing addition.
- Any kind of sugar can be used for this recipe. I’ve used white crystal sugar, but any variety of brown sugar can be used for this recipe. The colour of the preserve will change according to the type of sugar we use.
- Adding a small quantity of salt helps to balance the sweet and sour taste present in the sugar, tomatoes and oranges.
- You may increase or decrease the amount of sugar slightly to suit your taste preference, but one thing to remember – if the ratio of fruit to sugar changes too much then the preserve will end up either too unevenly watery (too little sugar) or solidify and crystalise (too much sugar). Equal amount of sugar is ideal.
- Use heavy bottomed pan/kadai so that the heat is spread evenly and stir constantly. This helps to cook the preserve without it sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- The lemon juice added at the end serves three purposes: it gives an attractive gloss to the preserve, it acts as a natural preservative and it stops the sugar from crystallising after a few weeks of storage.
- Use a clean, dry spoon with the preserve. Also the bottle used to store the preserve should be sterilised and dry. Any external moisture will spoil the preserve.
