The Dabble

-food with a side of life-

Sweet and Spicy Tomato Apple Jam with Ginger, Chili Pepper and Balsamic Vinegar

Keeping this post short, sweet, a little tangy, hot and pretty darn good on a number of things.

I’m of course talking about this tomato apple jam with ginger, chilies, balsamic vinegar and a few other ingredients. I created this after raiding a friend’s garden, helping gather the last pick of produce that would otherwise rot.

There were beacoup amounts of apples, some tomatoes and Thai chilies. My tweets (yeah from twitter) voiced that I had roughly 4 tons of apples. Sorry to those that recommended cider (hard cider specifically), I made applesauce (a twist this year with brown butter and rosemary-Greg really likes it) and apple butter which pretty much wiped out the supply.

Tomato Apple Jam

So 3 apple recipes came about in the last week around here. This being the best of the recipe bushel. A little apple humor. Very little.

Greg and I had a late dinner of this tomato jam over ricotta on baguette slices (and a nice glass of wine). It’s like ketchup’s more complicated, more flavorful cousin. It would be lovely with eggs, layered in a sandwich, topping rice, over baked camembert cheese and excellent with pretzels/fries. Tested and approved. My version is spicy hot but you can tame it down with a jalapeno or no pepper in place of the Thai chili.

Sweet and Spicy Tomato Apple Jam with Ginger, Chili Pepper and Balsamic Vinegar
*You can make this less spicy or not at all by using a jalapeno in place of the Thai chili or no pepper whatsoever
Makes a little over 4 cups

Ingredients:
3.5 lbs tomatoes, roughly chopped with seeds and skin attached
2 large apples, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, diced
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 Thai chili pepper, minced (keep a few of the seeds for the heat and pitch the rest) or a jalapeno with very little seeds or skip altogether
1 cinnamon stick
¼ tsp cumin
pinch of ground cloves
1 tbsp lime juice
1 ½ tbsp salt
1 ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar

Place all of the ingredients (except the balsamic vinegar) in a large pot. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the juices have evaporated and the tomatoes and apples have softened and the consistency is thick. This could take a few hours. Remove from the heat and add the balsamic vinegar. Once cooled slightly, remove the cinnamon stick and place in jars. Store the jam for up to a week in your refrigerator. I like it at room temp or warm over ricotta on toast, with pretzels and fries, in a sandwich, over rice, with eggs, in a box, with a fox, on a train. Now I’m going all Green Eggs and Ham Seuss style on you. I’m just saying it’s like ketchups more mature cousin so the possibilities are endless.

6 thoughts on “Sweet and Spicy Tomato Apple Jam with Ginger, Chili Pepper and Balsamic Vinegar

  1. This looks very interesting, and packed full of flavor. I too, helped raid my neighbor’s garden and have similar items to use up. I think my husband and I would really love the “mature cousin” to ketchup (probably not the kids though). Thanks for posting, I’m excited to try it!

  2. I found your blog through your guest post for Monet. Your self-saucing pudding looked amazing. After reading this post I’m marvelling at how lucky you are to have four tons of apples!

    1. My version was with the Thai chili so it depends on the type of chili pepper you have. Thai chilies are spicier than serrano if that helps with the Scoville scale.

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