We have yet to experience the first morning frost this year. although, temperatures have gone down to single digits. This means, winter is just a breath away and so, it's time to thank summer plants for a good harvest and do some clearing in the garden. Sad eggplants and stakes used for the runner beans had to be plucked out, kamote and jerusalem artichokes dug up for any tubers, and the remaining tomatoes still hanging on (mostly green) had to be picked and the wilting vines cut up for the compost heap.
A good problem again just came up--what to do with still green tomatoes. I suppose, I could just put them on a basket and wait for them to ripen. But no, there is a chance they would just rot and not ripen. I searched for ways to use green tomatoes and found lots of recipes. I was intrigued with the "Green Tomato Chutney" as I have never tried it. So I weighed, measured, chopped ingredients and turned on the stove.
From Mary Browne, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne's book, "The Cook's Garden", here's how to make use of green tomatoes.
GREEN TOMATO CHUTNEY.
Ingredients
1 kg green tomatoes
1kg cooking apples
500 g brown sugar
500 g onions
250 g raisins
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tb salt
600 ml vinegar
Quarter the tomatoes and remove the hard cores. Peel, core and quarter the apples (I find grating the apples better so you eliminate coring). Peel the onions Chop all these ingredients finely. Place in a preserving pan and add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and then simmer uncovered for 1-2 hours until the chutney is thick and well cooked. Stir occasionally, Pour into clean, sterilized jars.
Like our own achara (pickled green papapaya), this is a nice accompaniment for anything fried, and a great substitute for ketchup.
posted by Mel @ Monday, May 08, 2006 1 comments links to this post
