Would you like some tomato butter for your toast? Yes, yes you heard my right. Or perhaps a little tablespoon on your dessert?
Fruit butters are not as well known as jams and jellies but they are in the same family. They have more of a paste texture to them and would fall more into the spread category. If done right the spread will have the consistency of room temperature butter, hence its name. The most commonly know one is Apple Butter but you can actually make a butter out of almost any fruit.
I decided to try it with tomatoes first. It’s an unusual choice but I was just to curious. One would not pick an acidic fruit instinctively…but balanced with enough sugar you can use this butter anywhere you would normally use a sweet fruit version.
Tomato Butter
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound ripe or green tomatoes, washed, stemmed and cut in half (I used cherry tomatoes)
- 1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
Preparation:
Place tomatoes in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tomatoes have completely broken down and are soft. If you wish (I did not) force through a sieve to remove skin and seeds.
Add sugar and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, for 1-2 hours or until thick enough so the butter doesn’t run off a spoon when turned upside down.
Let the mixture cool. The butter can be kept refrigerated for up to three weeks.
It really is surprisingly sweet and I served a dollop of it on a blueberry pineapple cake. It was a great combination, even if it looks a little weird.
Glad this is new to everyone and hope you try it.
Oh cool Audax that you were so familiar. It would be great on toast!
Yes this is called tomato jam here in Australia and is very popular in Asian savoury dishes and sweet breakfast recipes and I have it on toast a lot. Wonderful effort and result. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
I’m trying to to salivate all over my keyboard at the thought of this tomato butter! I absolutely adore tomatoes and I can just imagine the taste of this, Yum!!!!
That is a really interesting thing you’ve done. I’d like to try it!
This is new to me! Tomato butter… yummmm!
@Jillyann….oh yes you must try it
@Foodessa…thank you Claudia for the award!
@The Duo Dishes indeed would be good on a savory bread too. Very versatile
Well tomatoes are definitely a sweet fruit, so why not make butter out of them. This would be AWESOME on a corn cake or fritter.
I find the idea of using tomatoes a fantastic idea…and it looks so sumptuous too.
Thanks for sharing such an interesting and easy recipe that I’ll try for sure.
BTW…the next time you stop by my place…there is something for you to pick up on my APPRECIATION page.
Ciao for now and flavourful wishes,
Claudia
I have wanted to make tomato butter for quite some time and just never gotten around to doing it. This looks fantastic. Now I am inspired and will absolutely have to give this a try! Thanks!