Portuguese Tomato Jam
Also known as: Portuguese Tomato Jam · Portuguese Tomato Preserve
Ripe tomatoes, sugar and cinnamon transformed into a glossy, ruby, unexpectedly fruity preserve.
- Origin
- Portugal · nationwide home preserve
- Region
- Nationwide
- Season
- Year-round · mainly prepared in late summer
Doce de Tomate is a Portuguese preserve made with ripe red tomatoes, sugar and often cinnamon. Once peeled and, depending on the recipe, seeded, the fruit is reduced until it loses the character of a sauce and gains gloss, concentration and a spreadable set.
It is a sweet preserve, not ketchup, chutney or savoury sauce. It also differs from the Azorean Doce de Tomate de Capucho: that regional name refers to a preserve made from orange physalis berries enclosed in papery husks, not ordinary tomatoes.
- Ripe red tomatoes
- Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Optional lemon or other aromatic
Sweet and fruity, with gentle tomato acidity, cinnamon aroma and a jam-like texture.
It may be smooth or retain strands of pulp. Some recipes keep the seeds; others remove them. Sugar quantity and aromatics vary between households.
At family tables, markets, fairs and regional-product shops throughout Portugal.
Toast, plain biscuits, aged cheese, requeijão or yoghurt.
The preserve belongs to the household repertoire for using a seasonal abundance of tomatoes. Concentrating very ripe fruit with sugar extended its use and produced an accompaniment for bread, biscuits, cheese and fillings.
Contemporary Portuguese recipe collections continue to describe it as traditional. Formulas differ in sugar ratio, whether seeds are removed and the aromatics used: cinnamon is common, while lemon, cloves, vanilla or basil appear in household versions.
Sources: feed.continente.pt · foodfromportugal.com · teleculinaria.pt
Pastries from here — Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Gila Allumette
A matchstick of puff pastry, gila and cream beneath diamond-scored white icing.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Brioche Almofada
A soft pillow of light brioche, fresh buttercream and icing sugar.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Puff-Pastry Almofada
Two square puff-pastry slabs hold white cream, egg sweet and a snowfall of sugar.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Alsaciano Custard Cake
A tall sweet-pastry cylinder filled with caramelised lemon custard.
Nationwide