Stocking The Shelves for Winter
My mother’s pantry, was a narrow room with a sloping roof built under the stairs, just off the kitchen. The shelves on the lowest wall were reserved for the growing number of preserves she would make over the year. There would be all sorts of jams and jellies. Many flavours and colours. Strawberry Jam. Blackberry Jam. Quince Jam. Raspberry Jelly which was prepared just like jam but she’d strain the liquid through a jelly bag to make a crystal clear preserve. But there would be only one type of chutney on the shelf. Green Tomato Chutney. She made the same recipe year after year. I never did get a copy of it, but remember the main ingredients were unripe green tomatoes, apples, sultanas, vinegar and sugar. As for any herbs and spices – those remain a mystery.
With the end of season tomatoes just hanging on the vines, refusing to ripen, it was time to dig out the copper preserving pan and make my own green tomato chutney.
There are so many recipes out there, all with their own little variations. I wanted my chutney to be as typically Old English as possible. As chutney originated in India and was brought over and adapted by the Victorians as a way of preserving fruit and vegetables from the garden I wanted to use some traditional spices. As my mother’s chutney didn’t taste too spicy I used just Cyan and Turmeric.
The building blocks for a chutney recipe
2.5kg Green Tomatoes
500g White Onion
500g British Russet Apples
215g Sultanas
1 litre Distilled Malt Vinegar
475g Dark Muscavado Sugar
5g White Pepper
3g Cyan
3g Turmeric.
Once cooked don’t forget to let the chutney mature for about 3 months.
Next year I think I will experiment with a few more spices, perhaps some mustard seed, coriander, ginger and mace.
I saved a few green tomatoes to try something I’ve always wanted to taste…Fried Green Tomatoes – a side dish from the Southern United States. Having never eaten them I had no idea how to make my own. I used a great recipe from the online magazine thekitchn.com
And the verdict? I love them!
Hooked on the idea of using green tomatoes, other than as a substitute for tomatillos, I searched out other recipes and found Green Tomato Mayonnaise which made use of my hydroponically grown basil leaves.
Here are the links:
Fried Green Tomatoes:- http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-recommendation-fried-gr-57523
Green Tomato Mayonnaise: – http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/green-tomato-mayonnaise
Would love to know what you do with green tomatoes and looking forward to the long winter nights since we’ve left DST when I can sit back and think about my own recipes.
hydro2plate 