What better way to use up your green tomatoes at the end of the growing season than with a green tomato chutney? This recipe makes approximately 2 kilos of chutney and usually takes me around 45 minutes to put it all together.
You will need:
- 450g finely chopped onion
- 300ml malt vinegar (preferably white)
- 900g green tomatoes
- 225g peeled and cored cooking apple
- 1 tsp mixed pickling spices (tie in a small piece of muslin and remove when the chutney is cooked)
- 350g light brown sugar
- 100g raisins or sultanas (optional)
- Half a teaspoon of salt (or to taste)
- 2 teaspoons of black pepper (or to taste)
Gently simmer all of your ingredients on the hob in an uncovered pan until the mixture thickens. I enjoy a thick tomato chutney and love the sweetness of the raisins so I always include them and simmer for around 20 minutes stirring regularly.
Once your chutney is finished, let it cool a little so you do not burn yourself but spoon it into your jars as soon as you can. Remember that vinegar will cause metal jar lids to rust. You can avoid this to some extent with waxed circles but I prefer to use the type with the swinging glass lids to avoid this altogether, particularly if I am gifting my chutney.
Green tomato chutney will mature within 4 weeks and will be at its best at that point - so try to resist the temptation to eat it all straight away!
Store in a cool, dry dark place until ready or refrigerate. You can freeze your chutney successfully too, but make sure you leave it out for several days before eating it as this helps the flavour to mature and develop once again.
This stuff is incredibly moreish… you have been warned!!
By all means play around with the ingredients a little and tweak the recipe to suit your own palate, but stick with the sugar and vinegar as these amounts are the key to preserving the chutney.
Enjoy!
Image by Sumangal Haldar from Pixabay