Green Tomato Chutney

Over the weekend I raided the tomato vines of all the green tomatoes, every last one. All the stubborn fruits that haven't ripened can still be put to good use in chutney. The growing season is slowing down and I'm getting the plants ready to turn into compost, all the extra ripened tomatoes will be slow dried in the oven and bottled in Olive Oil to store ready for the winter and the grow bags contents emptied onto the allotment. 

I'm going to follow the lovely Delia Smith's recipe (see below)

Green Tomato Chutney

2 1/2 lb green tomatoes

2 lb onions

2 1/2 lb cooking apples

1 lb raisins

6 large crushed cloves of garlic

1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tbsp salt

2 leve desertspoons of ground ginger

1lb 6oz soft brown sugar

1 oz pickling spice

3 pints genuine malt vinegar.

A small preserving pan, eight 1lb preserving jars, a mincer, string and some gauze.

Wash the tomatpoes and cut them into quarters, peel theonions and quarter them, quarter and core the apples, lewaving the peels on and keeping them in water to prevent browning.

Using the medium blade of a mincer, mince the tomatoes and place them in the pan, next mince the onions, then the raisins followed by the apples (don't wory if they have now turned brown), addinf them all to the pan. Now add the garlic, cayenne, salt ginger and sugar, blend everything thoroughly. Next tie the pickling spice in a small piece of double thickness gauze and attach it to the handle so that it hangs down into the other ingredients.

Now pour in the vinegar, bring to simmering point, remove any scum from the surface, then let it simmer very gently for approx. 3 1/2 hours with out covering. Sit occassionally esp. towards the end to prevent sticking. It's ready whe the vinegar has almost been absorbed, the chutney has thickened to a nice soft consistency and the spoon leaves a trail. Do be careful not to overcook. The recipe says that a food processor can be used instead of a mincer.