Last fall I wept and wailed and gnashed my teeth at the horribly early hard frost that put a far too early end to tomato season. I was left with a lot of green tomatoes, but not quite enough to bother with turning into tomato sauce. And besides, I was in a bad mood.
I turned some of those green tomatoes into salsa, and others into an “apple” pie.
This year has been a better one as far as the tomato harvest goes. In addition to all the fresh eating we’ve done, I’ve also canned 18 pints of tomato sauce and over a dozen pints of salsa, as well as freeze-drying several quarts of tomato sauce. I’ve already been harvesting a full two weeks longer than I did last year, and there are still plenty of red tomatoes on the vines as well as gobs of green ones. And according to the good folks at the National Weather Service, I’ve got at least another week before freezing temperatures hit.
Regardless of when the freeze comes, there will be a lot of green tomatoes. The full-size tomatoes will all ripen eventually, as will some of the smaller fruits. But as everyone who has ever picked all of the tomatoes before frost hits can testify, some of the smaller green ones never will ripen. So what can be done with them?
Make jam!
The following recipe is super easy, even for those who have never made jam. You don’t even need to use canning jars.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, simmer the tomatoes and sugar. Remove from heat and stir in Jell-O. Pour into containers and seal. This jam stores in the refrigerator for one week or in the freezer for up to six months.
Notes. Make sure to use green, unripe tomatoes. Tomatoes that are still green when ripe (like the Green Zebra tomato) will not work in this recipe. Beefsteak or cherry tomatoes supposedly yield a better result than paste tomatoes, though I only used paste tomatoes here. Due to the Jell-O content, this recipe is not suitable for water bath canning. When warmed up, this jam also makes an excellent pancake syrup. This recipe can be used with basically all flavors of Jell-O. The red and purple flavors are best at covering up the color of the green tomatoes. If you wish to make grape “jam”, for a more realistic consistency, puree the tomatoes and strain to remove the seeds.
Family reviews: Becky reported that she totally would have believed it to be store-bought jam. It was too sweet to believe it was regular homemade jam at our house. She said it may have passed for homemade at someone else’s house. But the fruit favor seemed a little fake. However, it still tasted good.
Buttercup said it was totally fine jam—she would not have known it was green tomatoes and Jell-O.
Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of Jell-O. There are just too many artificial flavors and such for my comfort level. And yet, I store a lot of Jell-O. Why? Well, for one, we need it to make the traditional Jell-O salads for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Another reason is that the lemon and orange flavors are used to make some pretty tasty DIY survival bars. And then there were the times that Grocery Outlet had the boxes or canisters (yes, apparently Jell-O is also packaged in canisters, but I’ve never seen it in regular stores) for 5-10 cents each. Cheap source of sugar. I couldn’t pass them up.
So while I would not make this jam for my family except in a desperate situation, I would have absolutely no problem making this or sharing the recipe, and perhaps a box of Jell-O, with others who were not so well-prepared. We are facing a real shortage of food in this country. I think it’s a good idea to learn some creative ways of making do with the resources we have and not wasting valuable food.
Jello salads must definitely be a western US thing--here in southwest Virginia we never see Jello salads anymore, but they used to be popular when I was young and also in our early years of marriage. About the only thing I use Jello for anymore is "Jello Poke Cake" which my husband and sons love (with DOUBLE the jello!!!) but I only make and don't eat!
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