Inn at Weathersfield Chef Michael Makes Tomato Jam #weathersfieldvt #vt #tomato

The Executive Chef at the Inn at Weathersfield in Perkinsville, Michael Ehlenfeldt, practices Farm to Table. Today garden tomatoes are transformed into a jam that will be served during the winter with assorted cheeses to guests and folks in the inn's dining room and tavern.

The chef used this recipe adapted from "Fancy Pantry" by Helen Witty to create-Tomato jam with candied ginger and coriander seed.

5 pounds ripe paste tomatoes. (Chef prefers Amish Paste tomatoes for their flavor and meatiness)
2 large lemons, zest and juice
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
5 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons coriander, toasted and ground in a spice grinder
-Blanch tomatoes in boiling water for 10-15 seconds until skins start to peel, then drop them into ice water to stop the cooking. Peel and seed the tomatoes and cut out any hard spots and the stem reserving the juice and discarding the seeds. Coarsely chop tomatoes and place them with the juice into a heavy bottomed preserving pan.
-Grate the zest from the lemons and juice them. Add zest and juice of the lemons to the tomatoes, along with crystallized ginger, sugar and salt.
-Bring mixture to a boil stirring occasionally then lower heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Raise heat to med-high and cook jam stirring constantly until a candy thermometer reads 219F degrees.
-When the jam is done add the coriander and remove from the heat.
-Ladle the boiling-hot jam into hot clean sanitized half-pint canning jars, leaving 1/4" head space. Cover with new two-piece canning lid according to manufactures directions and process for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Yield: 4 cups
Special equipment: candy thermometer, caning pot, canning jar with new lids
Will store for a year in a cool pantry or cellar.

Executive Chef, Michael Ehlenfeldt
The Inn at Weathersfield
Route 106
Perkinsville, VT, September 7, 2016
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