Chu On Dish: Sweet & Savory Tomato Jam (Recipe)

To help me get a jump on the work week's dinner dishes, I tend to spend some time on the weekends preparing condiments or sauces that help enhance an otherwise plain dish. During the summer months when tomatoes are in season, ripe and plentiful, I'll cook them down to make plain tomato sauce, or in this case, tomato jam. Using a slow cooker makes this a hands-off type of recipe and the result is something that can be jarred and stored on the shelf for months and used in an endless variety of applications.

Here's what you'll need:
5 lbs. Roma or Plum tomatoes (I find this variety makes for a "meaty" sauce; heirlooms can be too sweet)
1 medium yellow onion (diced small)
1 medium shallot (diced small)
1/2 bunch green onion (diced small)
2 serrano peppers (these can be omitted if you cannot take the heat)
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp. granulated garlic
1 tbsp. granulated onion
1 tbsp. smoked paprika
1 tbsp. fish sauce (this can be omitted if you don't have any, but it adds umami without making it fishy)
1 tbsp. mustard powder (or 1 tbsp. dijon mustard)
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. kosher or sea salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda (this will help reduce the acidity from the tomatoes)

Optional ingredient:
5 strips cooked and crumbled bacon

Here's what you'll do:
- Plug in your slow cooker and turn to high.
- Fill a large pot with water until about 3/4 full. Place over high heat and bring to a boil.
- While waiting for the water to boil, fill the sink about half full with cold water and cut a shallow "X" on the bottom of all your tomatoes. Keep these on standby.
- Once the water comes to a boil, use a slotted spoon to carefully lower as many tomatoes into the water as possible. Count to 15, then quickly but carefully remove all tomatoes and plop into the sink of cold water. In batches, blanch all tomatoes for 15 seconds until they are all done. Turn the heat off and proceed to next step.
- Using a paring knife, scrape the skin off each tomato starting from the "X", cut the core off, cut the tomato in half and do your best to de-seed them. I like to stick my thumb in each seed cavity and scrape out as much as I can. If you don't mind seeds in your tomato jam, you can skip the de-seeding step, but I would recommend it, as tomato seeds can get stuck in your teeth during eating.
- As you work on and finish each tomato, place them in your pre-heating slow cooker. It's okay if the tomatoes fill your slow cooker. These will cook down.
- Once all tomatoes are in your slow cooker, leave it uncovered, clean up and then walk away for 8 hours.
- After 8 hours, use a potato masher or stick blender to smash or blend your tomatoes until as smooth or chunky as you like.
- Then in a medium sauté pan over medium heat, cook your onions, serrano and bacon (if using) with a tsp. of vegetable oil until the onions are translucent.
- Pour this into the slow cooker and add all the other dry and wet ingredients into the slow cooker. Stir until well combined.
- Let the slow cooker work for another 2-3 hours.
- If jarring for storage, sanitize 4-5 pint-sized mason jars in boiling or very hot water from the sink and towel dry with a clean, lint-free kitchen towel.
- If you fill them with the tomato jam from the slow cooker while it is still hot, this will help with the vacuum seal to make these shelf stable.
- Be sure to fill each jar to at least 95% full and place the lid on quickly and tightly, while everything is still very hot. If there is a jar that cannot be filled up to 95%, store in the fridge and use that one first.
- Once this is done, let them cool on the kitchen counter until totally cooled, then store in your pantry, label and give away as gifts or enjoy as you like over vegetables, fish, chicken, beef, scrambled eggs, etc.
- Enjoy!