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Tomato Preserve
1 lb yellow pear tomatoes 1 lb. sugar 2 ozs. preserved Canton ginger 2 lemons Wipe tomatoes, cover with boiling water, and let stand until skins may be easily removed. Add sugar, cover, and let stand over night. In the morning pour off syrup and boil until quite thick; skim, then add tomatoes, ginger, and lemons which have been sliced and the seeds removed. Cook until tomatoes have a clarified appearance.
A small-batch fruit preserve that treats the tomato as what it botanically is. The whole method hinges on the overnight rest: sugar draws the juice out of the whole tomatoes so the syrup can be reduced separately, leaving the fruit intact rather than collapsed.
- Yellow pear tomatoesSmall, firm, hollow-ish heirloom tomatoes still sold at farmers' markets and easy to grow. Yellow cherry or Sungold-type tomatoes are the closest substitute; avoid anything large or very juicy, as the point is whole fruit suspended in syrup.
- Weights, not cupsA pound of sugar is about 2 1/4 cups granulated. The recipe is a straight 1:1 preserve by weight, so if you scale it, weigh both tomatoes and sugar rather than measuring by volume.
- Preserved Canton gingerGinger root candied in heavy syrup, sold today as stem ginger in syrup (jarred) or crystallised ginger. Two ounces is roughly 1/3 cup sliced. Fresh ginger is not a substitute here; it will read as sharp rather than sweet-spiced.
- The lemonsSliced thin, peel and all, seeds picked out. The pith and peel supply the pectin and acid that this fruit lacks, so do not peel them or swap in bottled juice.
- SkinningBoiling water poured over and left to stand loosens the skins in a few minutes; a scored X at the blossom end speeds it. Work gently so the fruit stays whole.
- Boiling the syrupPour off the drawn syrup and reduce it before the fruit goes back in. The recipe gives no temperature, only 'quite thick'; if you prefer a thermometer, the usual jelly-point range of around 220F is a rough guide. Skimming the foam keeps the finished preserve clear.
- "Clarified appearance""Clarified appearance" -- The visual cue for doneness: the tomatoes turn translucent and glossy, the syrup coats a spoon. No time is given, so go by the look of the fruit, and keep the boil gentle or the fruit will burst.
- Yield and keepingThe original gives no yield; expect roughly a pint. It also gives no sealing instructions, so treat it as a refrigerator preserve and use it within a few weeks; if you want shelf-stable jars, follow current tested canning directions for a boiling-water bath.
- ServingSweet-tart and gingery rather than savoury. It belongs with cream cheese, sharp cheddar, hot biscuits, or cold roast meat.
Nineteenth-century American cookbooks routinely put tomatoes on the sweet side of the pantry, and tomato preserves, tomato figs and green tomato sweet pickle all appear alongside peach and quince. Small, firm varieties suited the purpose, holding their shape in syrup. The ginger points to the China trade: "Canton ginger," root candied in syrup and shipped in stoneware jars, was a familiar import in American ports through the 1800s and a standard flavouring for preserves and fruitcake. Recipes of this kind reflect a household economy in which a glut of garden fruit was converted, pound for pound with sugar, into something that would last through winter and could be set out for guests.