Tomato....butter?

Living in a frigid wasteland does strange things to your head.  At least that's what I thought when my friend Martin (from frigid Regina Saskatchewan) was ecstatically describing tomato butter.

Fruit butters are preserved fruits that are sweetened, spiced, pureed and cooked to a thick buttery consistency.  I make apple and pear butter every year, but had never heard of the tomato variety.

Crazy and violent!

Crazy Canucks.

Of course, tomatoes are a fruit.  And I have a lot of tomatoes from the garden this summer--many more that can be eaten fresh or even given away.
So tomato butter it is.


The basis for this recipe is from Martin's Great-Granny Stewart:

Thanks to Martin's mom for sharing

.

You will need:

10# ripe tomatoes skinned and cut up
6 C malt vinegar
 1T whole allspice
1T whole cloves
4 cinnamon sticks
2 T coarse salt
1T red pepper flakes

Cover skinned and diced tomatoes with 2 C malt vinegar and stand [covered] overnight.  Drain and reserve liquid.

To the drained tomatoes add 4 C malt vinegar and 1 C reserved liquid and boil for 10 minutes [in a non-reactive pot].  Place spices in a mesh bag and add to pot.  Boil [gently?] for 3 hours the add sugar.  Boil [gently?] for 30 minutes and bottle [fill sterilized hot jars with the hot tomato butter, place warmed lids and rings.  Tighten rings gently and process.]

I have modified the recipe to accommodate the pear tomatoes I have in overabundance.  Some of the changes are gleaned from a tomato jam recipe I found(1), some from my 20 years of making pear and apple butter(2), and some from sheer laziness(3).

The modified recipe is as follows:

You will need:

This is gonna be great.

5# ripe whole tomatoes (pear or grape preferred)(1,3)
3 1/2 C  granulated sugar
6 T freshly squeezed lime juice (1,2)
2 T balsamic vinegar (1,2)
2 t finely grated ginger root (1)
1 t ground (2) cinnamon
1/2 t ground (2) cloves
1 T kosher salt
2 T finely minced hot peppers (I used Anaheim peppers fresh from the garden)(2)
This yielded 2&1/2 pints of butter.  Yield will vary with the liquid in the tomatoes.

This looks great.

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot(2,3).

This smells great!

Using a hand blender, puree until chunky(2,3).  Cook uncovered on high, stirring when you think of it(2,3), for at least 6 hours.  Reduce heat to low and continue overnight (~10-12 hours)(2).

Use the hand blender again to puree to a smooth consistency(2).   Cook until the butter mounds up when dripped from a spoon(2).

Pour cooked tomato butter into sterilized and heated jars.  Wipe off jar top, place sterilized and heated lids and jars.  Place heated rings and tighten gently.
Process as for a cooked jam (15 minutes for me).  Let cool, listen for the pop! and store in a cool dark place for up to a year.

As always, if a canned product smells off or has any mold or growth when opened, DO NOT EAT IT!



Fruit butters are delicious as a spread for toast, over cream cheese, as a glaze for meats and even on ice cream.

This tastes great!!11eleventy!!!

I think it tastes pretty darn good.  A jar is winging its way to Martin right now and I will ask for a report and let you know (or maybe he'll let you know himself...)



And speaking of tomatoes...

Brandywine heirloom tomato in my garden