Green Tomato Chutney
A long lasting, super tasty preserve to make the most of each year’s glut of green tomatoes, rescued from blight or frost. Along with our green tomato salad and lacto fermented green tomatoes, this recipe is the most long lasting member of our green tomato trio, making this crop available all year round (if you can resist eating it all right away).
This recipe will include two versions of the same thing, a standard and a spiced. Both pair beautifully with cheese and a good wedge of bread, but one has spices like cumin, coriander and fenugreek to give it an earthy, aromatic depth. If you don’t want to make a full batch of both (like I did), make the standard recipe and jar half of it. Then add half the amount of spice to the remaining chutney, cook for 2-3 minutes, then jar it. And remember to label.
Chutney (a history in a nutshell)
Many have a deeply personal connection to the multicultural nature of food in Britain. It is something I am personally proud of, as to me it has become an example of so many diverse and interesting people from around the world that call this country home. For most, Indian cuisine, specifically the British Indian varieties, are somewhat of a signature of this.
We’re familiar with dishes like Chicken Tikka Masala, described by former UK foreign secretary Robin Cook as “a true British national dish”, that was invented in Britain by Bangladeshi migrant chefs who noticed that Brits like to eat meat with a gravy-like sauce. But not as many know about the history of chutney, lime pickle and marmalade, and how a very specific type came into being as a result of two very different climates.
Chutney is a wonderfully broad category of condiment. From fresh or cooked coconut chutneys, to mint, lime, garlic, onion, aubergine, papaya, gourd, peanut, chilli, ginger, fish, shrimp, tamarind, mango, mung bean, okra, cucumber, tomato and amla (Indian gooseberry), the range is staggering, with each region boasting its own unique version. It is thought that chutneys have been around since 500 BC in India, where the practice was passed on to the Romans and British via the Indian subcontinent as a means of preserving food. As Northern Europe established more foreign imports and refrigeration became more popular, chutney fell out of favour.
The western-style chutney (the one we’re most familiar with in Britain) originated from Anglo-Indians during the time of the British Raj. Using Indian chutney techniques, they recreated Indian chutney using British orchard fruits such as sour apples and rhubarb, mixed with dried fruit such as raisins, sultanas and dates. Thus, the western-style chutney was born and became highly valued as a method for preserving gluts of fruit.
Green Tomato Chutney
1.3kg Green tomatoes, halved or quartered to a similar size
1kg Onion, any colour, roughly diced
150g Sultanas
2 Cloves of garlic, crushed
500g Brown sugar (any type)
1L Malt vinegar (use cider vinegar if you have a gluten allergy)
2tsp Salt (preferably smoked)
1tsp Cracked black pepper
1 Bay leaf
2tbs Yellow mustard seeds
Optional spices: 3tsp cumin, 2tsp coriander, 1 star anise, 1tsp fenugreek, as much chilli as you like. All toasted. All bar the star anis ground in a pestle and mortar.
Step 1.
There is an easy way and a more difficult way to start a chutney. I adore the caramelised flavours of the difficult way, but if you don’t fancy the challenge of cooking the sugar first, simply add all your prepped ingredients into the pan together and bring them to a boil. It doesn’t matter that the ingredients aren’t covered by the liquid, pleasant will be released as they cook down.
For those who want to do it as I did, tip the sugar in the pan first and let it melt over a medium to high temperature. Keep a close eye not to let it burn and don’t stir it. The margin of error when working with sugar is very fine so if this is your first time cooking it, make sure you start off with less heat than needed and gradually increase. If the sugar melts and starts to stick to the sides of the pan, tip the pan around to encourage it to flow the other way. The moment the sugar is all caramelised (liquid and darker, releasing a caramel fragrance), add the rest of your ingredients (except for the spices, if you’re using them). Stir everything together and return to a simmer.
Step 2.
If you plan to use spices, toast them whole in a dry frying pan or skillet until they start to pop, get a little darker and release their aroma.
Tip them into a pestle and mortar (apart from the star anise) and grind them into a fine powder. Add them into the chutney and stir them in.
Step 3.
Continue to simmer until the chutney has reduced by roughly half it’s volume. This will take between 1-2 hours. Test the chutney by either dipping the back of a spoon in to see if the liquid is viscous enough to hold on, or use a spoon to clear chutney from the bottom of the pan and watch as it slowly fills the gap. If it happens immediately then let it simmer for longer.
When reduced enough, spoon it into sterilised jars and store at room temperature until opened, then store in the fridge for 2 weeks. Due to the high acidity of tomatoes and the high sugar content of chutney, it preserves very well.