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Green tomato jam is an old-fashioned sweet preserve that turns the last hard tomatoes of the season into something that’ll turn heads in gift baskets. It cooks down with lemon and cinnamon until it sets on its own, with no boxed pectin, and you end up with a sweet, spiced jam with a unique old-fashioned flavor.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Kitchen
- A Quick Look at the Recipe
- Ingredients for Green Tomato Jam
- Low Sugar Options
- How to Make Green Tomato Jam
- Green Tomato Jam Variations
- Canning Green Tomato Jam
- Altitude Adjustments
- Setting Notes
- Ways to Use Green Tomato Jam
- Storage and Shelf Life
- More Ways to Preserve Green Tomatoes
- Yield Notes
- Old-Fashioned Green Tomato Jam FAQs
- Green Tomato Recipes
- Old-Fashioned Green Tomato Jam Recipe
- Old-Fashioned Jam Recipes
This recipe has been reviewed for safety and accuracy by a Master Food Preserver certified through the University of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Green tomatoes are part of every fall here in Vermont. The frost doesn’t wait for the tomato patch to finish, so the last of the harvest comes in hard and green. There are always more of them than I know what to do with.
Green tomatoes were one of the most popular ingredients in canning recipes from the early 1900s. This jam is one of those old-fashioned sweet recipes, made for the breakfast table instead of the relish shelf. It sits at the sweet end of my green tomato canning recipes.
There’s no boxed pectin in it. Unripe tomatoes have plenty of their own, and the lemons add more. The pot cooks down to the gel stage the same way any jam without added pectin does, like my apple jam and pear jam.
The lemons cook in the jam and come back out before it goes into jars, and that’s what keeps it a jam. If you want the peel left in, sliced thin and visible in every spoonful, that’s green tomato marmalade. It’s a close cousin to this one.
If you’d rather keep the tomatoes whole and without sugar, there’s canning green tomatoes. For something savory, green tomato salsa verde and green tomato chutney both use a bucketful. I also have a long list of green tomato recipes that are meals, baked goods, and more.
Notes from My Kitchen
Green tomatoes have a really unique flavor that works wonderfully in both sweet and savory recipes. Old canning books have far more green tomato relishes, pickles, and preserves than just about anything else. I know, it’s hard to believe, but you’ll see 2-3 recipes for cucumber pickles…and then 15 for green tomatoes.
Green tomatoes were a huge part of the old-fashioned canning pantry because they’re acidic, full of pectin, and have a really unique umami-rich flavor that works in so many ways. This jam is another fun way to use them up at the end of the season.
A Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Old-Fashioned Green Tomato Jam
- Recipe Type: Jam (no added pectin)
- Canning Method: Water Bath Canning
- Prep Time: About 30 minutes
- Cook Time: About 45 to 60 minutes
- Canning Time: 10 minutes for half pints
- Yield: 5 to 6 half pints
- Jar Sizes: Quarter pints or half pints
- Headspace: 1/4 inch
- Ingredients Overview: Green tomatoes, sugar, lemons, cinnamon sticks
- Safe Canning Recipe Source: Follows NCHFP guidance for jams and jellies
- Difficulty: Easy
- Similar Recipes: Making green tomato jam is similar to other old-fashioned jams without added pectin, like grape jam and apple jam. If you have a bucket of green tomatoes to work through, try green tomato marmalade or green tomato pie filling.
Ingredients for Green Tomato Jam
The ingredient list is short. What people ask about most is cutting the sugar and changing up the spices, and you can do a little of both.
- Green tomatoes: Hard, fully unripe tomatoes, the ones that were never going to ripen before first frost. Any variety and any size works, since they all get chopped. Skip anything that’s started to blush. This is for unripe tomatoes, not a green heirloom variety that’s already ripe, and ripe tomatoes make a different tomato jam. Don’t peel them.
- Sugar: Plain granulated white sugar. It sweetens the jam and helps it set. It isn’t the preservative, so you can cut it back a little, but you’ll have a slightly softer set and lower yield.
- Lemons: Medium lemons, quartered, peel and all. They bring acid, pectin, and flavor, so don’t cut them back. If yours are waxed, soak them in very hot water for a few minutes and wipe the wax off before you cut them.
- Cinnamon sticks: Whole sticks, not ground. They flavor the jam while it cooks, and they’re easy to find in the pot and pull out at the end.
Chop the tomatoes by hand, or pulse them in batches in a food processor. Stop while there are still chunks. A kitchen scale makes the tomatoes easy to measure, since the recipe goes by weight.
Use your biggest heavy-bottomed pot. A full batch fills most of a large stockpot when it starts, and it cooks down by more than half.
Wonderful! Not only used as preserves or jam, but it makes a fantastic sauce warmed over any savory chicken or pork.
Low Sugar Options
You can cut the sugar, and plenty of people do. Expect a longer cook, a softer set, and fewer jars, since sugar adds volume to the pot. Don’t cut the sugar more than 1/3 without adding a low-sugar pectin.
For a low-sugar jam that still sets firmly, use Pomona’s Universal Pectin instead of cooking to the gel stage. My guide to using Pomona’s pectin walks through it.
How to Make Green Tomato Jam
This is a one-pot jam with no overnight soak. Everything goes in together, and it cooks until it sets. The ratio is 16 cups roughly chopped green tomatoes (1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces) to 5 cups sugar, plus two medium lemons and two cinnamon sticks.
If you’re working by weight, that’s 5 pounds green tomatoes to about 2 1/4 pounds sugar.
Core the tomatoes and chop them roughly. Rough chunks are fine, since it’s an old-fashioned jam and a little texture suits it. Quarter the lemons and pick out the seeds you can see.
Put the tomatoes, sugar, lemons, and cinnamon sticks in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Keep it at a steady boil and stir often. It takes 45 minutes to an hour to reach the gel stage. The end is when it’s most likely to scorch, so stir more as it thickens. The lemons fall apart as they cook, and that’s expected.
Start testing once it looks thick and glossy. It’s done at 220 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, or when a spoonful wrinkles on a frozen plate.
Pull the pot off the heat. Fish out the lemon peels and the cinnamon sticks with tongs or a slotted spoon, then skim off any foam. Jar the jam while it’s still hot.
Green Tomato Jam Variations
The candied lemon peels are delicious on their own. You can also dice them fine and stir them back into the jam before it goes into the jars. That’s personal taste, and it brings the jam a step closer to a marmalade.
It’s a small amount of peel, so it only adds a little to the yield.
You can also add more spice. A few whole cloves, a pinch of nutmeg, or a few slices of fresh ginger all go well with the cinnamon. Whole spices come out of the pot with the cinnamon sticks, and ground ones stay in the jam.
One reader doubled the spices and added a pinch of nutmeg, and loved the extra spice.
Canning Green Tomato Jam
Start heating your water bath canner while the jam cooks. Wash the jars, keep them warm, and set the lids, rings, canning funnel, and jar lifter within reach.
Ladle the hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Run a bubble tool around the inside of each jar and top up the headspace if you need to. Wipe the rims clean, since a sticky rim is the most common reason a jar of jam doesn’t seal. Screw the bands down to fingertip tight.
Lower the jars into the canner so they’re under at least an inch of water. Process quarter pints, half pints and pints for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner, adjusting for altitude. Turn off the heat, take the lid off, and let the jars sit 5 more minutes before you lift them out. That rest keeps the jam from siphoning out under the lids.
Let them cool on a towel for 12 to 24 hours before you check the seals.
Altitude Adjustments
For water bath canning, processing times increase at higher elevations:
- 0 to 6,000 feet: 10 minutes
- Above 6,000 feet: 15 minutes
Setting Notes
Jam sets as it cools, not in the pot. Hot jam is always runny, so don’t judge this one by what goes into the jars. Give it a full 24 to 48 hours before you decide anything.
The gel stage is 220 degrees F at sea level, and it drops about 1 degree for every 500 feet you go up. At 2,500 feet, you’re looking for roughly 215 degrees F. If you’d rather not trust a thermometer, keep two small plates in the freezer and use the wrinkle test instead.
If it still hasn’t set after two days, it probably came off the heat too early. My guide to troubleshooting jelly set covers how to recook it. You can also call it green tomato syrup and pour it over pancakes.
Ways to Use Green Tomato Jam
Toast and butter come first, the same as any jam. It’s good on biscuits and English muffins too, but I think it really shines on the charcuterie board.
Put it on a cheese board next to a sharp cheddar or a soft goat cheese. It works the way a fruit chutney does, sweet next to something salty.
Warmed in a small pan, it turns into a quick glaze for pork chops or chicken.
Storage and Shelf Life
After 12 to 24 hours, press the center of each lid. A sealed lid is firm and slightly concave, and it won’t flex under your finger.
Take the rings off before you put the jars away. A ring left on can hold a failed lid down and hide a jar that never sealed. Label the jars and store them somewhere cool, dark, and dry. Sealed jam keeps its quality for 12 to 18 months.
If a jar doesn’t seal, put it in the fridge and use it within a couple of weeks. If you catch it within 24 hours, you can reprocess it with a fresh lid. Once a jar is open, keep it in the fridge and use it within 1 to 2 weeks.
You don’t have to can it at all. It keeps about 2 weeks in the fridge, or up to 6 months in the freezer. Use straight-sided, freezer-safe jars, since a shouldered jar can crack as the jam expands against the shoulder, and leave 1 inch of headspace.
More Ways to Preserve Green Tomatoes
The sweet side of the green tomato shelf is small. Green tomato marmalade keeps the citrus peel in the jar, sliced thin. Green tomato pie filling is the other sweet one, and it bakes up a lot like a tart apple pie.
Most green tomato recipes go the savory direction. Pickled green tomatoes are the classic, and spicy pickled green tomatoes have a kick. Southern chow chow, Amish chow chow, and green tomato piccalilli are the old relishes.
For sauces, there’s green tomato ketchup and green tomato enchilada sauce. The rest of the unripe harvest can go into plain tomato canning recipes once it ripens on the counter.
If the canner’s already out this fall, canning pears, pear jelly, and canning apple slices use the same water bath setup. Canning pumpkin and canning beets need a pressure canner.
Yield Notes
Five pounds of green tomatoes as picked came out to 16 cups once they were cored and roughly chopped. With the lemon peels taken out, that made 5 half pints. Stirring the diced peel back in adds about 1/4 cup, so plan on 5 to 6 half pints. Wash an extra jar before you start, since the count also depends on how juicy the tomatoes are and how far you cook it down.
The recipe halves cleanly if you only have a few pounds of tomatoes. Don’t double it. A single batch already fills a big pot, and a deeper pot takes so long to reach the gel stage that the tomatoes overcook before it sets.
Old-Fashioned Green Tomato Jam FAQs
The lemon peel, halving the batch, and cutting the sugar are the questions readers ask most on this jam.
No. Unripe tomatoes have plenty of natural pectin, and the lemons add more. Cooking the jam to the gel stage, 220 degrees F at sea level, is what sets it.
The most common reasons are pulling the jam off the heat before it reached the gel stage, cutting the sugar back too far, or a batch that was scaled up too far. Give it 24 to 48 hours to finish setting, and if it still hasn’t, read through my guide on troubleshooting jelly set.
No. The lemons cook in the jam for their flavor and pectin, and the peels come out before it goes into jars. That’s what keeps it a jam. If you want some peel in it, dice the candied peels fine and stir them back in, or make green tomato marmalade, which keeps thin slices of citrus peel in every jar.
Yes, it halves cleanly, so a few pounds of tomatoes is plenty. Don’t double it, though. A single batch already fills a big pot, and a deeper pot takes too long to reach the gel stage.
Yes, up to a point. Sugar isn’t the preservative here, so cutting it means a longer cook, a softer set, and fewer jars. Don’t cut it more than 1/3 without a low-sugar pectin. For a truly low-sugar jam, use Pomona’s pectin instead of cooking to the gel stage.
Green Tomato Recipes
There’s a lot more to do with a bucket of green tomatoes than jam.
If you tried this Old-Fashioned Green Tomato Jam recipe, or any other recipe on Creative Canning, leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know what you think in the 📝 comments below!
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Old-Fashioned Green Tomato Jam
Equipment
- Canning Jars, Lids and Bands
Ingredients
- 5 lbs green tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped, see notes
- 5 cups granulated sugar
- 2 medium lemons, quartered, seeds removed
- 2 cinnamon sticks
Instructions
- ore the green tomatoes and chop them roughly, by hand or pulsed in batches in a food processor.
- Quarter the lemons and pick out the seeds.
- Prepare a water bath canner, jars, and lids, and keep the jars hot until you fill them.
- Combine the tomatoes, sugar, lemons, and cinnamon sticks in a large, heavy-bottomed pot.
- Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Keep it at a steady boil, stirring often and more as it thickens, until it reaches the gel stage, about 45 to 60 minutes.
- Test for the gel stage at 220 degrees F, or until a spoonful wrinkles on a frozen plate.
- Remove the pot from the heat, lift out the lemon peels and cinnamon sticks, and skim off any foam.
- Ladle the hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, adjust the headspace, and wipe the rims clean.
- Center the lids on the jars and screw the bands down to fingertip tight.
- Process quarter pints, half pints and pints in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude (see notes).
- Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid, and wait 5 minutes before lifting the jars out onto a towel.
- Cool 12 to 24 hours, check the seals, take the bands off, and store in a cool, dark place.
Notes
- 0 to 6,000 feet: 10 minutes
- Above 6,000 feet: 15 minutes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If the canner’s still out, there are plenty more jam canning recipes to try, including blueberry jam and seedless blackberry jam, and the rest of my water bath canning recipes too.
Old-Fashioned Jam Recipes
More jams for the pantry shelf this fall.
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Do you peel the tomatoes before you cook them?
Green tomatoes are not peeled before canning (unlike most red tomato recipes). They’re a different fruit really, and much more like a tomatillo than a tomato at the green stage. Per the NCHFP, you follow guidelines for tomatillos when working with green tomatoes, so that’s not peeled. Practically, the skins are pretty much impossible to remove, so you can’t really peel them the same way as with red tomatoes.
Frozen apple pectin = less sugar?? Not made yet – but excited to try (only so much fridge pickle I can make). A few people already sharing chutneys, this seems a bit different and for me easier. I do have frozen, windfall (cooking) apple pectin. I boiled, strained and reduced but did not add sugar before freezing. Will using some of this enable me to use less sugar? With the world full of extra sweeeet stuff I do like full flavour but less sweet alternatives … if they still work and preserve!!! NB – I am from the UK and don’t do ‘canning’ – but put hot ingredients into sterelized jars and lids straight from the oven …. and keep or give for use asap any whose lids don’t ‘pop’.
In this recipe, you can use as much or as little sugar as you’d like. With less sugar, it’ll come out a bit thinner, but still quite tasty. You can definitely substitute some apples in there as well, but that’ll obviously change the flavor.
I only have 4 pounds of green tomatoes. Would this recipe still work halved?
Yes, you can make a half recipe, that works just fine.
Hi there. Are you supposed to include the lemon peel like you do with marmalade please? Thanks.
Yes, the lemons are left in the jam like a marmalade. I’ve gone back in and clarified that in the recipe, that’s a very good question, thank you for asking.
Wonderful!!! Not only used as preserves or jam but makes a fantastic sauce warmed over any savory chicken or pork.
Great idea!
Another fabulous recipe, so hard to find something to do with green tomatoes. I did cut the sugar back to 4 cups and doubled the spices, plus a pinch of nutmeg. It set beautifully and tastes wonderful. Thanks for sharing!!
Lovely, so happy you enjoyed it!
Good green tomatoes relish thankyou.
I appreciate all of your recipes, and will use more of them. Thank you!
Glad they’re helpful to you Gloria!
Thank you for the recipes..
You’re welcome, and thanks for being here =)