Sugar-free Tomato Jalapeño Jam

Sugar-free Tomato Jalapeño Jam is my first pepper jam, and it turned out fantastic!

I really wanted to try making my first pepper jelly this summer, but I also had some small bright red tomatoes which were very sweet and needed to be used up, and decided to just make do with what I had on hand and try a jam instead. So I wound up with a small batch of keto sugar-free tomato jalapeno jam with some heat!

For a first attempt at a savory jam, I’m pretty pleased with the resulting product.

I think you’ll find this sugar-free tomato jalapeño jam almost like a bougie, chunky ketchup. It’s not a type of jam to put on low carb toast or muffins at breakfast, but more like a robust condiment.

It goes great with burgers and dogs, and has potential to be decent glaze to slather on barbecued ribs or grilled chicken…or whisk with some olive oil to make a vinaigrette.

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds final weight, cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
3 chopped jalapeños (de-seeding optional)
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 cups Allullose
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 lemon, juiced
(or 1/4 tsp citric acid + 3 TB water)
Zest of 1 lemon (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Fill a water bath canner with enough water to cover 5-6 half pint jars and get it cooking to a boil. Sterilize your jars, lids, and rings.

SAFETY NOTE: Before starting, take precautions to ventilate the kitchen very well and have fresh air circulating throughout. Cooking vinegary foods for this long is very rough on the eyes, nose, and throat.

In 3-quart pot over high heat, add all ingredients and stir together.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then decrease heat to medium, simmering at least 45 minutes to thicken.

Using an immersion blender, pulse to blend the mixture to your desired consistency (you can also use a potato masher). I planned for mine to be a bit chunkier than it turned out, but it’s easy to go overboard with my blender! It’s up to you if you want it smoother or chunkier.

You’ll want to keep simmering the jam until it reduces and thickens to a gel that will set (test by observing if it sticks thickly to the back of a spoon without dripping). Stir and adjust sweetness and seasoning to taste.

Pour the jam into each jar using a funnel, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

Wipe rims and place lids, then place bands and twist until finger-tight. Process jars in the water bath canner for 15 minutes.

Once finished processing, place jars on a towel and leave for 12-24 hours.

Notes:

The two challenges with canning preserves are:

1) Timing it all, and

2) Getting your jam/jelly to set. The rest is pretty easy!

It’s important to time your water bath canner to be close to boiling, around the same time you are almost finished boiling your jam. I usually get my canner water to about 180 F or so and then start cooking my hot mixture.

If your sugar-free tomato jalapeño jam doesn’t set (gel), it’s most likely because you didn’t thicken/reduce it enough on the stove top. You can simply redo the cooking of the jam mixture in a pot over again by bringing to a boil, decreasing heat to medium, and simmering until reduced/thickened, then you can re-process in clean jars with new lids and clean bands for 15 minutes.