Spicy Green Tomato Chutney

My friend Rifat has plenty of tomatoes on her plants that won’t ripen, and the ones she picked and put in paper bags won’t ripen either. Lucky her, as she can make green tomato chutney. If you don’t grow your own, green tomatoes are actually hard to find. I love making chutney – coming across an old jar is like getting treasure for free.

1.3kg green tomatoes, roughly chopped

500g cooking apples, peeled, cored & chopped

500g onions chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, chopped

4 Scotch bonnet chillies

225g sultanas

1tbsp salt

600ml malt vinegar

500g sugar

Spices of your choice – up to 1tbsp in total

Ingredients first – I look for green or yellow Scotch bonnets to keep the colour consistent. How many you use depends on how long you want to keep it, as it will mellow in time. It will keep for a year in a cupboard. Any sugar will work, though I prefer brown sugar. I’ve gone for Bramley apples. You could use wine vinegar but it seems a waste of money for something that is just going to be boiled up.

The spices are more exciting – I’m using cinnamon, mace, allspice and yellow mustard seeds. I confess I use ground (apart from the mustard) as I really can’t do with making up muslin bags to float in the mixture.

Get a large pan and add everything except half the vinegar and all of the sugar. Simmer gently for about an hour.

In a small pan dissolve the sugar in the other half of the vinegar, and add it to the chutney. Simmer for another hour or so, until the chutney is thick. If a wooden spoon drawn across the bottom of the pan leaves a clean line for a few seconds, it’s done.

Spoon into sterilised jars and leave in a dark place for 3 months. Label it. I always think I will remember what it is but I never do. Despite the chillies, the boy actually likes this as the heat does mellow down in time. I push these jars to the back of the cupboard so he won’t even see them until late next summer.