Green Tomato & Chilli Chutney

With my passion of saving food, my green tomatoes are destined for the preserving pan: Green Tomato & Chilli Chutney

Near the end of the tomato growing season, frost can completely annihilate tomato plants. Their leaves burn in the chill and the branches begin to blacken. Those gorgeous green tomatoes that once turned a blush red when ripened on the vine in warmer months, now hang on for dear life on a lifeless plant. The odds are, they won’t have the opportunity to ripen as winter approaches. Pick them and preserve them, or they are destined for the compost!

Green tomatoes are regular tomatoes that haven’t yet ripened. They are very acidic (moreso than their ripened red version of themselves). In fact, as they contain both tomatine and solanine which are are toxic, you may get quite ill if you were to consume them in large quantities. Cooked however, is a different story so they lend themselves to preserving very nicely.

Just as the green tomatoes are hit by frost, so can chilli plants! I have salvaged both from my veggie patch and have approx 10kg ready to bottle of green tomatoes alone!

Green tomatoes and chilli certainly are the heroes of this chutney however green apples also make a sneaky guest role. I don’t have an apple tree at the moment, but I do pick for my local Community Fruit Harvesting and managed to score a bag of terrible apples on the outside but perfect in the middle, from a derelict orchard, so they have also featured in this recipe. While they may have been attacked by codling moth in patches and discoloured, they were perfect once the oddities had been cut away.

Green Tomato & Chilli Chutney

Ingredients

• 1kg green tomatoes, skin on and roughly chopped
• 4-5  apples, cored and chopped
• 4 green chilli, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup  malt vinegar
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 Tbsp salt

Method

1. Wash tomatoes, cut away any discolouration or bad flesh that may have been affected by weather or insects. Dice the tomatoes, skin on, weigh, then add to a large saucepan.
2. Add all other ingredients to the saucepan, and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer and cook for approx 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
3. Once the tomatoes are soft, mash roughly with a potato masher (or alternatively you may wish to use a food processor to blend into a smoother texture).
4. Pour into sterilised jars.