Green tomato jam: 4 Recipes

For centuries, tomatoes have been used in cooking. Usually ripe fruits with yellow, red and pink color are used in food. In some countries there are no conditions for constant cultivation of this crop. Most often this is due to the climate, which does not allow the vegetables to mature to their full potential. And the question often arises as to how to use tomatoes that have not had time to ripen. You can pick the green fruits and keep them in the house until they are ripe. However, unripe tomatoes can be used in their pristine form. If you subject the vegetables to heat treatment, you can destroy fungal infestations of the crop and use them for food.

Tomato is a representative of nightshade vegetables. For this type of fruit is characterized by the presence of poisonous components, which are not present in ripe vegetables. Green tomatoes have a tough structure and not entirely pleasant taste. Consequently, unripe tomatoes should not be eaten without proper processing, because it is not only not tasty, but also dangerous to health. Many cases of poisoning are known to occur as a result of consuming green vegetables.

Tomatoes are an excellent crop that can be used in pickled preserves. However, there are many known uses for tomatoes with different sweeteners. The most popular way is to make jam from such tomatoes. With the right preparation of such a dessert, it can be preserved for several seasons.

On a side note! The green tomato is able to have a healing effect when used externally. If you apply such a product to the legs, you can cure varicose veins. Also unripe tomatoes in a person's diet will help restore the acid-alkaline balance in the body and help cleanse the intestines.

Composition and calories

The composition of unripe specimens is different from ripe berries. They contain almost all representatives of the vitamin group B, they also contain vitamins A, E and PP, ascorbic acid. If you follow the technology of making dessert from green vegetables, you can preserve all the valuable components of the product. Unripe vegetables contain iron, copper, potassium and magnesium, various amino acids. A distinctive feature of such vegetables is the presence of such elements as solanine, lycopene and tomatin.

Solanine is a poisonous component. Compared with ripe tomatoes, immature tomatoes contain more of this element. This substance is designed to protect the vegetable from mold fungus. Solanine content decreases as it ripens.

Consumption of a green vegetable with a high concentration of this element in a small amount can have a beneficial effect on the human body. So, the product is able to adjust the functioning of the cardiovascular system, characterized by antiviral and antispasmodic properties. In addition, solanine has a diuretic effect.

It should be remembered that exceeding the permissible doses will have a negative impact on the blood components, namely, it will disrupt the function of red blood cells to transport oxygen in the body. The substance also negatively affects the nervous system. To get a strong intoxication a person enough to eat 4-5 tomatoes. Manifestations of this disease are abdominal pain, nausea, headaches and stomach upset. Severe forms of poisoning may even be fatal. If a person has unpleasant symptoms after consuming a unripe tomato, they should immediately take a sorbent medicine and seek medical attention.

Tomatin is also a toxic element and is a component of unripe tomatoes. In order to overdose on this substance, one would need to eat four kilograms of vegetables, which a person would not be able to handle. In a small amount, the substance accelerates the build-up of muscle mass, promotes the breakdown of fat and strengthens the immune system. This substance acts as an ingredient in a drug called Cortisone.

Lycopene is the substance responsible for the color of the fruit. It is an antioxidant element that protects DNA cells from cancerous changes. The substance is useful for eye pathologies. It reduces the risk of atherosclerosis, normalizes blood pressure and reduces cholesterol values.

An overdose of this component can cause discoloration of the skin. In this case, it is sufficient to take a sorbent tablet and eliminate the side effect of lycopene consumption.

Serotonin, or the happiness hormone, is also a component of green vegetables. The substance is able to lift your mood, improve brain activity and normalize the transmission of nerve impulses.

Also in green vegetables are found phytoncides, which help reduce the risk of inflammation in the body. In addition, the fruit contains in its composition unsaturated fatty acids (in small doses), substitutable and essential amino acids.

The caloric value of the crop is only 23 kcal per 100 grams of vegetables.

What is useful for green tomato jam

1. For green tomatoes are characteristic of analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects. The vegetables also have diuretic and hypotensive effects.
2. The product strengthens capillaries and fights viral and fungal diseases.
3. The vegetable is useful for liver pathologies, as well as the upper respiratory tract.
4. The presence of dietary fiber promotes purification of the intestines.
5. External use of slices of green culture will help in the treatment of varicose veins.
6. Green tomato jam protects the body from the development of diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Important! It should be remembered that you should not use green tomatoes for self-medication. It is necessarily necessary to consult with a specialist.

Previously, it was believed that ready-made jam lacks most of the useful properties. Today, however, many recipes are known, thanks to which you can preserve the true value of the ingredient.

Researchers have even concluded that heat-treated tomatoes are even more nutritious than raw vegetables. The explanation for this fact is that high temperatures synthesize a third more of a substance like lycopene. However, prolonged cooking is unacceptable. It is important to stick to a certain number of minutes while cooking the dessert.

How to choose tomatoes for jam

When choosing green tomatoes, you should pay attention to vegetables that have no damage. They should be firm and fleshy.

Experienced hostesses recommend, if possible, to buy varieties with the shape of a plum, as they have a denser structure, but the rest are quite suitable for making jam. For such a delicacy, you can take tomatoes of any size.

Fruits with cracks and rottenness are not suitable. You should not cut off the damaged areas and use the vegetable for dessert, because the microorganisms have already penetrated inside the vegetable and will continue to multiply and in the finished jam.

Before cooking it is required to make a preliminary preparation. First of all, it is necessary to select the raw material for the future jam. As already mentioned, green fruits contain solanine, a large amount of which can harm the human body. In ripe tomatoes it is much less. Before making jam from unripe fruits, you will have to get rid of this substance. To do this, you can pour peeled tomatoes with water and soak them for 3-4 hours. During this time, the tomato "poison" will disappear. You can use another method. To do this, green vegetables should be soaked for an hour in water with the addition of salt. In this case, you should consider only the amount of free time, as both methods are effective.

After that, the tomatoes should be dried on a towel and sliced. Before cooking, you should cut out the areas where the stalk of the vegetable is located. It is also necessary to remove the black spots from the tomato. The method of chopping depends on preference and the recipe used. Most often tomatoes are cut into cubes or slices, like an orange.

How to cook jam from green tomatoes: recipes

To get jam from the green crop, you can use both small and large vegetables. Small tomatoes can be boiled whole, but large tomatoes will need to be chopped according to the recipe recommendations.

If previously unripe tomatoes have never been used to make jam, first you need to boil a small amount of them. To understand which recipe is the most appropriate, it is better to use several options.

Classic recipe for jam from green tomatoes

Of the ingredients, you will need 350 ml of water, a kilogram of unripe vegetables and one and a half kilograms of sugar. First, you should pour water into a saucepan, put it on the fire and bring it to a boil. After that, you should slowly pour the sugar, stirring all the time.

Then you need to simmer the syrup on low heat until all the grains have dissolved. When the syrup of the right consistency is formed, the pan should be removed from the stove. Now prepare the vegetables. At this stage the tomatoes are trimmed, washed and dried. If necessary, the tomatoes should be chopped. After soaking in purified or salted water, the vegetables should be poured into a container for boiling and pour the syrup obtained earlier. In this form, the preparation for jam should stand for about one day. In this case, the pot should be covered with several layers of gauze.

After the specified period, it is necessary to drain the sweet liquid formed and boil it separately in another container. Tomatoes should again be poured with the resulting composition and leave for another 15-16 hours. After this, the process of boiling the dessert begins.

Boil it on minimal heat until a thick syrup is formed and transparent fruits are obtained. To determine the readiness of the treat, you should drop the sweet mixture on paper. If the liquid is not completely saturated, then the dessert is ready.

Unripe tomato jam with citric acid

To make this jam, you will need 350 ml of water, one and a half kilograms of sugar in the form of sand, 1.2 kilograms of green tomatoes and a quarter of a teaspoon of citric acid. It should be noted immediately that only purified and filtered water is used for making jam. Tap water is not suitable for such purposes, as it contains a large amount of chlorine. Next, you need to prepare the vegetables, soak them in water to get rid of solanine, dry and cut into cubes or slices. Raw materials should be placed in a saucepan, pour so much water that the tomatoes were drowned in the liquid. If necessary, the amount of water can be slightly increased. A container with vegetables put on the stove and bring to a boil. After that, the fire should be reduced to a minimum and cook for 10 minutes.

Drain the liquid obtained as a result of boiling, add sugar to the tomatoes, stir the mixture gently and boil on low heat for another twenty minutes. After this time, the pot should be removed from the stove and left for 2-3 hours. This is necessary in order for the vegetables to absorb the syrup and become more dense.

Next, the jam should be boiled for another 15-20 minutes and left again for a couple of hours. Then follows the third stage of cooking. At the same time, citric acid must be added to the jam. The final result should be a mass of thick consistency with a yellow hue. In the hot state, the dessert should be rolled up in jars, turn over and leave in this form for 24 hours. After a day, the jam can be removed to a cold place.

Tomato jam with rum and cloves

To prepare this type of jam you need 40 grams of rum, 0.5 liters of water, a glass of vinegar, one kilogram of green tomatoes, sugar in the same amount, two clove buds and one lemon. As in the other recipes, you should first prepare the vegetables for further processing. To do this, soak the tomatoes in salted liquid or in purified water and chop them in a convenient way. Next, you should proceed to cooking syrup. To begin with you will need to use 0.5 kg of sugar and 0.5 liters of water. After the sugar has completely dissolved, you need to add the vinegar. In the resulting mixture you should put chopped tomatoes, boil for 5 minutes and remove from the fire. Insist the mass for about 12 hours.

After that, drain the liquid part, add the remaining sugar to the green vegetables and again bring to a boil. At this time, it is necessary to prepare the lemon. To do this, the citrus should be washed and cut into cubes along with the peel. When the jam starts to boil, you need to boil it for 5 minutes, and then add the chopped lemon. Then add cloves, stir and simmer on low heat. When the dessert begins to blend with the syrup, remove the pot from the stove. Rum should be added after the jam has cooled completely. All that's left is to pour the mass into jars and send it to the fridge for storage.

Jam from green tomatoes and nuts

To obtain jam according to this recipe, you should prepare 1.2 kilograms of sugar, 1.5 cups of water, 200 g of peeled walnuts and a kilo of green tomatoes. For such a treat, you can choose small tomatoes, which are convenient to cut into slices of small thickness. The peeled kernels of nuts should be fried in a pan without oil for five minutes. After that, the nuts should be chopped. To do this, you can use a blender or a coffee grinder. Next, it is necessary to prepare a thick syrup from the specified amount of water and granulated sugar. Tomatoes with nuts should be placed in a saucepan and put on the stove. Pour the syrup over the vegetables with nuts, cover with gauze in several layers or an ordinary kitchen towel and leave for 18-20 hours at room temperature. After that, you need to pour the syrup, boil it and add it to the vegetables again. Now all that's left is to roll up the delicious treat in jars.

Rules for storing jam

Ready-made jam, rolled in jars, can be stored on a pantry shelf or in the basement room for one year. In this case, the temperature in the room should not exceed 22 degrees. However, if the green tomato jam has been prepared in accordance with all the requirements and taking into account all the stages, the temperature fluctuations are not terrible to the product.

If the jam is stored in the refrigerator and at the same time closed with a capron cover, its shelf life is only three months.

Interesting facts about tomatoes

1. Translated from the Italian language, tomato means "golden apple".
2. Tomatoes are used as a condiment even in dried form. It is noteworthy that it takes 8-10 days to dry such vegetables. During this period, they are able to lose up to 90 percent of their total weight.
3. The country of origin of tomatoes is South America. It is known that even nowadays wild varieties of this crop grow there.
4. For a long time, tomatoes were considered inedible and poisonous products. Therefore, the culture was used mainly as a decorative and exotic plant.
5. In Russia, tomatoes appeared only in the 18th century. The largest number of such vegetables is produced in China. The next place is given to India, and then to the United States. For comparison, every third tomato was grown exactly in the Chinese state.
6. The pulp of ripe vegetables is used in folk medicine to treat various wounds and even burns. This is due to the high content of phytoncides in the fruit pulp, which are the so-called antibiotic of plant origin and prevent the development of infection.
7. Already at a temperature of 10 degrees, the plant loses its ability to reproduce, and as a result, the culture dies. Tomato seeds can be stored for up to eight years under special conditions. During this time, they will not lose their ability to germinate.
8. Botanically, tomatoes are not vegetables. They cannot even be classified as a fruit. Tomato is a berry.
9. For a long time, this berry was considered an aphrodisiac, but numerous studies have refuted this hypothesis.
10. In Ukraine there is a monument to the tomato.
11. The biggest tomato was grown in an American state. Its weight reached almost three kilograms.
12. The tomato is a member of the Solanaceae family. It is a relative of the potato and tobacco.
13. Tomatoes contain a daily norm of vitamin C. However, if the vegetables are exposed to direct sunlight during storage, this vitamin is quickly lost. Compared with other foods (when heat treatment reduces some of the useful components) exposure to high temperatures on tomatoes only improves their healing properties.