Yes, You Can Make Jam from Vegetables Too

In this time of late summer produce overflow, you've probably already considered what to do with all those tomatoes, or peaches, or blueberries. If you find yourself with a lot of great produce that might otherwise go to waste, you have a few excellent options for preserving it: freezing, canning, pickling, or turning it into jam. Generally speaking, fruits tend to get turned into jam, and vegetables go the pickling route. But just because that's what folks usually do doesn't mean it's the only option. Plenty of fruits are delicious when pickled, like peaches, blueberries or watermelon rind. And many vegetables actually make really delicious jams. Yep, that's right: You can make jam from vegetables, too.

You've probably already encountered some kinds of vegetable jam, in fact. Ever try pepper jelly? That's a vegetable jam. What about a traditional mint jelly alongside some lamb? That counts, too. You can either add vegetables to a fruit jam that you're making, like this rhubarb and strawberry jam, or you can make them the star of the whole show. Many vegetables are actually quite sweet—like carrots or beets—and cooking hem down into jam makes for an unusal, delicious preserve.

Watch: Make This the Summer You Start Making Jam

Like making any other kind of jam, the key is cooking the produce down, and then adding in sugar and spices to achieve the flavor that you're going for. If you're just starting out, try making this Caramelized Onion Marmalade. It's basically just nudging onions a bit past the caramelized state and adding vinegar, so they collapse into delicious sweet-savory oniony preserves rather than maintain their integrity.

Tomatoes are also a great candidate for turning into jam. Tomato jam is sweet, savory, and great on burgers or biscuits. You can experiment with whatever you have on hand—zucchini, say, parsnips, or pumpkin. Heck, carrots make for an excellent carrot marmalade. Let this be the late summer and fall of vegetable jams.