You could add DRY spices, but not fresh.
Fresh can change pH too much.

Below is a link to the NCHFP site (known safe) for Tomato Jam. Theirs calls for considerably more sugar, so I don't think I'd cut back too much.

Deanna

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP

Rosa - your recipe is counting on the apple cider for the necessary acidity to make it safe while most approved recipes call for lemon juice and have no peppers (peppers are even more low acid than tomatoes).

Lemon juice is much more acidic than apple cider so I would have some concerns about the safety of this recipe. May I ask what the source of the recipe is? Is there any chance that the apple cider is supposed to be apple cider vinegar instead?

Dave

What you are trying to do, rosajoe, is make salsa, not jam. I would not use the recipe you printed to make a canned product no matter the BWB time (yikes - after 30 minutes everything would be tasteless mush!). It would be OK for making up fresh and keeping refrigerated for a week, I think, if you used apple cider vinegar or lemon juice but not apple cider (you'd get mold in no time, even refrigerated). You could then add garlic and other hot peppers, fresh herbs, and onions, reduce the sugar, whatever, since it is really a sweetened salsa.

True "Tomato Jam" is a sweet thick fruit spread that uses fruit pieces and juice - tomato really is a fruit - like you would peach, plum, or berries. Jams don't have such reduced sugar (jams take at least equal up to 2x's the volume of sugar to fruit) unless you are making a sugar-free or low sugar Pomona pectin fruit "spread" (a thickened jar of fruit). They do not contain fresh vegetables or herbs (which have a high pH) that would be totally unsafe to BWB.

Nancy

To me this looks like a cooking recipe someone tried to invent some processing time for. It should only be frozen, or put in the fridge for use.
Be sure when you get recipes they are from reliable sources,places that have tested the recipes in labs so you know they are safe.
The Ball Blue Book is a good place to start and so is the link someone posted above.

Thank you!!!! This was printed in s small community newspaper. I did have concerns about it, I agree that after 30 minutes it would be mush and I also think it is too sweet for me. I am going to make it fresh and forget the canning.
Thanks again for your replies, you guys are great!!!!!

You might want to write a letter to the editor of that small community newspaper so that others who don't have access to this forum are presented with the information we've given you.

Nancy