Our friends at Friends Drift Inn tell BourbonBlog.com that their Bourbon Tomato Jam creation is like a gateway to Fall. It’s thick. It’s sweet. It has cayenne peppers for punches and bourbon for kicks and giggles.
“Hearty” seems like a good descriptor. Try it on roasted pork, slather it on cornmeal muffins or even some Sweet Pumpkin Biscuits. For breakfast, perhaps you can “pop” with baked eggs…
Bourbon Tomato Jam Recipe
Inspired by Food in Jars and White on Rice couple
Ingredients
- 5 lbs of tomatoes, coarsely chopped with peels left on
- 3 cups pure cane sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 8 Tablespoons lime juice (2 or 3 limes could substitute lemons)
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon thyme
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 Tablespoon canning salt
- 2 dried cayenne peppers crushed
- 1 teaspoon pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup bourbon (Woodford Reserve suggested)
- 2 Tablespoons Cider Vinegar
Method
1. In a medium saucepan, bring tomatoes, sugars, lime juice, spices, salt and pepper flakes to a rolling boil.
2. Reduce to simmer, stirring occasionally. You want the consistency to be thick and gooey, like a very rich jam. This will take 1 hour and thirty to forty minutes. As the mix thickens, you will need to stir more frequently.
3. Start your water bath canner during the wait. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and ready 5 or 6 jelly jars. Start your lids and rings simmering.
4. At about the hour and fifteen minute mark, check to see if the mixture has started to thicken. When it looks “close” add bourbon.
5. Cook until thick. Stir in 2 Tablespoons of cider vinegar about two minutes before you quit cooking.
6. Fill jars to ¼ inch from rims, wiping edges clean with a damp cloth. Add lids and rings, adjusting just to “finger tight.”
7. Process in a hot water bath canner for 20 minutes.
Check out Friends Drift Inn for more recipes and stories from Joyce who lives in a barn and cooks up a storm