Yesterday was a very rainy day for our farm share pick-up. Luckily, our farm (Sisters Hill Farm in Stanfordville, NY) did not sustain much damage during Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene and our shares were not affected. Yesterday I had a beautiful selection of vegetables from which I could pick.
The biggest part of this week’s basket is obviously the tomatoes. Nine pounds of them. Yes. 9 lbs of tomatoes. More on those in a minute. I also got two heads of lettuce, one cucumber, one yellow squash, 1 lb. onions, 1 lb. carrots (vs. beets or chard), 1 head of garlic, 3 jalepenos, 3 bell peppers, 1 bunch of cilantro, and 1.25 lbs. of string beans.
So, the tomatoes. That is an incredible amount for our family, even to eat over a 2-week span. So I think it’s time to break out my canning supplies for the first time this year! Yay! Originally, I planned to make salsa. We eat a lot of salsa, but honestly — making it to can is kind of a pain. You have to blanch and peel the tomatoes and that in and of itself is enough to make me keep looking for a different recipe. (Plus, honestly I prefer fresh pico de gallo, because I’m snotty that way.)
Then, I somehow came across this recipe for tomato jam. It sounded weird, yet compelling. It’s easy. I have all the ingredients. I think this might be “the one!” I can see it as a replacement for ketchup or on a cracker with some cream cheese. I also think that a little jar might be a nice gift. I’ll let you know how it goes.