Tomato happy

Last week, as I was preparing a horiatiki salata (Greek salad) for dinner, a sweet smell hit me as I was cutting into one of the tomatoes. Juices came running down my fingers and I immediately brought a wedge to my mouth. As I tasted it, it dawned on me. The tomato season has started!






I get so excited when I taste the first tomatoes of summer. Their flavor is infinitely superior to the ones you've been eating all winter long, that they suddenly seem like the sweetest thing you've ever had the pleasure of introducing to your taste buds. Ranging from pale golden to bright red and to glossy burgundy they are what summer is all about. That day, the salad was preferred to the main meal.






In Greek cuisine, there is a multitude of ways to use the simple tomato fruit; well it technically is a fruit after all. Apart from the famous Greek salad that every person who ever visited Greece is familiar with, there is the traditional dish of gemista, one of my all time favorite dishes, which is baked tomatoes stuffed with minced meat and rice and then there's every other Greek dish that includes tomatoes, which is almost 80% of your typical Greek dishes.






The Greek variety of beefsteak tomato that comes from the beautiful island of Crete is incredibly flavorsome and widely used but the most exquisite and rare variety of Greek tomatoes is that of the cherry tomato of Santorini island, also known as tomatini. Being smaller than the normal cherry tomato and having slightly flat sides, this unique variety has very thick skin, is extremely flavorful with both sweet and sour notes and highly aromatic.






Grown exclusively in Santorini, this variety is being harvested on anhydrous and volcanic soil and the tomatoes manage to acquire the necessary moisture they need for their survival from the mist that spreads over the island during the night. It has been found that this variety has more vitamin C than the average tomato and it has also been shown to contain the largest amount of lycopene than any other fruit or vegetable. Tomato paste is also produced from this small miracle of a tomato.






The cherry tomatoes of Santorini have been cultivated there since 1875 and by the 20th century there were almost 20,000 acres of land that were being harvested and fourteen tomato processing factories that were in operation. A massive earthquake in 1956 that caused great damage to the land as well as the rise in tourism, struck a blow to the tomato farming industry leaving only a few acres of land to be cultivated, a few islanders interested in continuing the tomato farming tradition and one processing factory still in operation. Most of these factories have now been converted to restaurants or bars.






I wish I could find these glorious miniature-sized fresh Santorini tomatoes in Holland but unfortunately I can't- they are even scarce in Greece. I have to settle for the normal cherry tomatoes which, in all fairness, are not at all bad but indeed quite delicious. I love using them in all kinds of salads, savory tarts and sauces, roasting them in the oven with lots of herbs, or stuffing them with cheese. Recently though, I discovered another way of enjoying these bright little jewels; by making tomato jam.






I love savory jams and chutneys. I think they are the best accompaniment to so many dishes that they are definitely worth making a batch of every now and then and keep in the fridge to spice up all kinds of boring dishes.
This cherry tomato jam has a vibrant red color and a sweet and slightly sour flavor with a hint of heat. Its jammy texture is well contrasted by the small shallot wedges and garlic slices and its powerful aromas are able to excite the senses. The combination of ingredients in this jam is uniquely straightforward. Tomatoes, shallots, garlic, sugar, vinegar, olive oil. You could make a simple salad with these ingredients and yet, by cooking them all together in a specific way, you end up with a delicious and original condiment.






Feel free to use different kinds of tomatoes for this jam, mince the garlic or remove it completely, finely chop the shallot if you don't like its texture (like my boyfriend), add more heat, add more spices (cumin or cinnamon or both would be great in this), herbs (like dried oregano or thyme), substitute vinegar for lemon or even lime juice. Play with it.




Play with pairings for this jam. I used it to enliven the taste of a plain roasted chicken and it was a hit. I served it on top of crostini with a little crumbled feta and a sprinkling of Greek dried oregano as an appetizer and it was fantastic. I substituted the boring and uninspiring ketchup in my homemade burgers with the zingy and fresh taste of this tomato jam and it was exceptional. There is so much more you can do with it. Just use your imagination.










Cherry Tomato Jam
Adapted from Donna Hay

This is a quick and easy recipe. It doesn't require a lot of prep work and the jam takes only 40-45 minutes to cook.

The cherry tomatoes need to be deseeded because they contain a lot of water but not peeled. I don't mind tomato skins in the jam at all but in case you do, go right ahead and peel them.
You can also use plum (Roma) instead of cherry tomatoes though they might require more cooking time (about 1 hour).






Yield: 1 heaped cup

Ingredients
500 g fresh cherry tomatoes
4 small shallots (around 70 g), peeled and quartered
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup (60 ml) red wine vinegar
75 g caster (superfine) sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder*
1/2 tsp sea salt

Preparation

Deseeding the cherry tomatoes
Make sure you wear an apron when you deseed the cherry tomatoes because this might get a bit messy. Some seeds may fly around once you crush the tomatoes!

Rinse the cherry tomatoes well under running water, remove their stems, put them in a colander and place it in your sink or over a big bowl. Gently crush the tomatoes, using your hands or a potato masher, allowing the seeds and water to run out of them. Once you've deseeded all of them, shake the colander well so that any seeds or water drains out.

Make the jam
Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7-8 minutes or until soft and translucent.
Add the deseeded cherry tomatoes, red wine vinegar, sugar, cayenne pepper and salt and bring to the boil over medium-high heat.
Then lower heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally and making sure the mixture doesn't get burned, for 40-45 minutes or until mixture has thickened and has the consistency of jam.
Remove saucepan from heat and if you want to serve the jam the same day, let it cool completely.

If you want to store or preserve it, take a hot sterilized glass jar- making sure you're not touching the inside of the jar- and fill it with the still hot jam. Secure the lid tightly and put the jar in a cool, dry place for storage.
You may keep an unopened sterilized jar of this jam in a dark and cool place for up to a year.

Once you open a jar, you have to immediately refrigerate it. It will keep for about 2-3 weeks, as long as you don't contaminate it with dirty spoons or hands.
(Read this)






How to sterilize glass jars
Sterilizing jars is extremely important if you wish to preserve jams. It is unhealthy and risky to store jams in unsterilized glass jars.
Preheat your oven to 100 degrees Celsius. Wash the jars and lids with soap in hot water. Put them, while still damp and without touching the inside of the jars and lids, on a baking tray, open sides up, and into the oven for 35 minutes. Take them out of the oven, fill jars with the hot cooked product and seal the lids immediately.

*In case you don't like the heat of the cayenne pepper- even though it is quite subtle in this recipe- you can substitute it with 1/4 tsp of freshly ground black pepper.