From Our Kitchens: Grandma Fisher’s delicious tomato jam

My love of cooking started when I was tall enough, by standing on a milking stool, to match up to the roasting pan that was sitting on my grandma’s stovetop. It was time to learn to stir the gravy. 

You see, my family was a cooking family. My father grew up on his grandpa’s farm in Ontario. The Fisher farm was known for its fruit — peaches, berries and the such. 

On the opposite end of the growing spectrum, my great-grandma grew vegetables to feed the three families that were supported by the farm. One of those vegetables, which is actually a fruit, was tomatoes.

Some of my most-loved memories of being in the kitchen with my mom and dad are the ones when we were canning all kinds of things, but especially when we were making “Sweet Tomato.” We all had our own tasks. We laughed a lot. Mom and Dad shared stories about their younger years. Our home smelled like history.

Now, if you grow tomatoes, you know that there always seems to be more grown than you know what to do with in the kitchen. You can eat only so many tomato sandwiches. 

Well, apparently, my great-grandma heard about a new way to preserve tomatoes that could be used for all types of meals — sweet tomatoes. Now, one of the things to know about this recipe is that it’s a process and it’s more fun when family and/or friends are involved in canning a batch of this tasty treat.

Here in the South, we know this recipe as Tomato Jam. Either way, it’s absolutely delicious on everything from cream cheese to meatloaf. I grew up eating it as a condiment for steaks and prime rib. Friends of mine enjoy it on their eggs, like a sweet salsa. Like most condiments, to each his own.

I’m sharing this recipe with the hope that it’ll become a family tradition in your house. Remember to laugh and share stories during the process.  

Cooking is smoked into Robert Fisher’s DNA. Robert started a catering company, Mama Honey’s Catering & Side Show, in Macon in the early 2000s. Building his menu with personalized recipes, he’s cooked for small wedding celebrations, events hosted by the Redding Foundation and at an opening concert featuring Mike Mills and Bobby McDuffie. Robert is passionate about food. 

His new love is Scoot’s Cafe & Ice Cream Emporium in Tennille, which opens in the spring of 2025.

Grandma Fisher’s Sweet Tomato (Tomato Jam)

Ingredients

• 30 pounds of very good ripe tomatoes, skinned, cored and coarsely chopped, I use beefsteak or large field tomatoes
• 5 pounds light brown sugar
• 5 cups apple cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt

Instructions

1. Skin the tomatoes.

2. Core and chunk the skinned tomatoes into a heavy bottom non-stick pot, cover and let them drain for a day or two

3. Drain the liquid off of the tomatoes (I save this and use it in soups/stews/sauces. It’s a tomato stock.)

4. Add all the ingredients to the pot that you used to drain the tomatoes and bring the mixture to a low boil, stirring frequently to prevent the bottom from burning. Stirring is very important because if the mixture ‘sits,’ the brown sugar will burn on the bottom of the pot.

5. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened to the consistency of jam. 

6. Remove from the heat. 

7. Transfer to sanitized jars while still hot. Be sure the lids are turned tight.
Listen for the ‘pop’ of the lids.

Notes

• The mixture will go from a frothy bubbling to a thicker bubble.
• The color should go from red to a brownish red and the mixture should be noticeably different in the stirring feel.
• This recipe should produce 11 to 12 pint-size Ball jars.
• Shelf life lasts years if the jars seal successfully.

Enjoy.