Do you love experimenting in the kitchen? This tomato and biltong jam recipe is the perfect project for anyone chasing a little culinary adventure. It blends the rich, tangy sweetness of slow-cooked Roma tomatoes with the smoky, salty crunch of oven-crisped biltong, resulting in a preserve unlike anything you’ve tasted before. If you’ve got a glut of tomatoes on hand and want to put them to delicious use, this South African-inspired jam is exactly the recipe you need.
Imagine spreading something on your morning toast that’s sweet, spiced, and packed with smoky biltong flavour — that’s tomato and biltong jam. A proudly South African preserve, it combines slow-cooked tomatoes, warming ginger and cinnamon, and crispy biltong into a syrupy jam that’s as unexpected as it is delicious. Whether smeared over breakfast toast or served alongside a cheeseboard, this jam is guaranteed to become a new favourite.
Ingredients
- 2.3 kilograms roma tomatoes
- 600 milliliters red wine vinegar
- 350 grams sugar
- 1 ginger, thinly sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 150 grams biltong, carved
- 3 onions, sliced
- 6 grams salt
Instructions
- Sterilise your bottles properly before filling — wash, then oven-dry at around 100°C for 10-15 minutes, or run through a hot dishwasher cycle. This matters for shelf life.
- Fill while the jam is still hot and seal immediately for the best seal.
- Once opened, keep refrigerated and use within a few weeks.
- Blanch and peel the tomatoes, then chop into small pieces.
- Fry the onions and ginger, add the tomatoes, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and vinegar, and simmer until softened.
- Meanwhile, bake the biltong until crispy.
- Strain the tomato mixture, reduce the liquid to a syrup, then stir the tomato pieces and chopped biltong back in.
- Simmer a final time, then bottle while hot.
How to Make Tomato and Biltong Jam (South Africa’s Favourite Preserve)
Ingredients
- 2.3kg roma tomatoes
- 600ml red wine vinegar
- 350g sugar
- 1 ginger thinly sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 150g biltong carved
- 3 onions sliced
- 5g salt
Instructions
Sterilise your bottles properly before filling — wash, then oven-dry at around 100°C for 10-15 minutes, or run through a hot dishwasher cycle. This matters for shelf life.
Fill while the jam is still hot and seal immediately for the best seal.
Once opened, keep refrigerated and use within a few weeks.
- Blanch and peel tomatoes: Blanch the 2.3 kilograms roma tomatoes in boiling water, then remove the peels.
- Chop tomatoes: Cut the peeled tomatoes into small pieces.
- Fry onions and ginger: Fry the 3 onions, sliced and 1 ginger, thinly sliced together for 3 minutes
- Simmer the base: Add the tomatoes, 350 grams sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, 6 grams salt, and 600 milliliters red wine vinegar to the pan, and simmer for 15 minutes
- Crisp the biltong: Bake the 150 grams biltong, carved in the oven at 140°C (285°F) for 10 minutes.
- Sift the mixture: Sift the tomato mixture, separating the liquid, and put the liquid back on the stove.
- Reduce to syrup: Cook the liquid for 10 minutes until a syrupy texture forms.
- Return tomato pieces: Add the tomato pieces back into the syrupy sauce.
- Add biltong: Chop the crispy biltong into small pieces and add to the sauce.
- Final simmer: Cook for another 10 minutes
- Bottle the jam: Remove from heat and spoon into sterilised bottles while hot