Category Archives: preserving

Green Tomato Chutney

by pantry, preserving, produce, recipes, tomatoes, vegetables

I was amused by a conversation with QuantumVegan’s about harvesting fifty pounds of tomatoes. That's a LOT of tomatoes! When we lived in Vermont that kind of a harvest was sure to mean we were getting green tomatoes.  The growing season is so short there tomatoes don't always have time to ripen.  So you come up with lots of good ways to use green tomatoes.  There's green tomato pie, green tomato salsa, the ubiquitous fried green tomatoes, and more. Luckily green tomatoes have lots of nutrition, including lycopene.

Nutritional Profile

According to the USDA, the nutritional profile of green and red tomatoes is almost the same. Green tomatoes have twice the vitamin C, more vitamin K, and more calcium. Red tomatoes have more vitamin A, E, and potassium.
 
Apparently, they have the same amount of lycopene and it is believed that the chlorophyll in the green tomatoes hides the red pigment which indicates a lycopene-rich food.

Recipe

Green tomatoes are versatile and can be made into pie (it's delicious, trust me), pasta sauce, and all manner of preserved goods.

If you're getting close to the end of your growing season and you're looking at a large crop of green tomatoes, here's my favorite way to use them up; green tomato chutney.   It goes very well with cheese and crackers, it is excellent with cold roast meats, delicious as a side to a spicy vegetarian lentil dish, it's a very versatile condiment to have in your pantry. This recipe is based on one from Fancy Pantry which appears to be out of print. I find it to be a good book with lots of wonderful recipes and well worth having.  But in the meantime here's my version:

Green Tomato Chutney

Print Recipe
Servings 6 pints

Ingredients
  

  • 4 pounds green tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks
  • 4 pounds green apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
  • 2 C. yellow onions, minced
  • 2 C. raisins
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 C. evaporated cane juice crystals
  • 1 1/2 C. raw apple cider vinegar
  • 3 T. minced fresh ginger
  • 2 T. mustard seed
  • 1 t. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 t. ground cloves
  • 1/2 t. red pepper flakes

Instructions
 

  • In a large stock pot mix together tomatoes, apples, onions, raisins, garlic, cane juice crystals, salt, and vinegar.
  • Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently.
  • Continue to boil for approximately 30 minutes continuing to stir frequently. The fruits will begin to soften and meld together.
  • Add the spices.
  • Boil for another 10-15 minutes until you reach the consistency you want.
  • Ladle into hot sterile jars and seal according to directions.
  • Bath for 10 minutes remove and let cool.

Notes

This recipe needs to settle to allow all of the flavors to come together. Let it sit in a cool dark space for at least a month before opening.

Making Homemade Jam

by fruit, jelly/jam, preserving, questions

Josh wrote in and wondered, “We just made some strawberry jam. Best jelly I've ever had. Do you know if you have to use such a huge amount of sugar? The basic recipe we used was adamant not to adjust or the jam would not set properly.”


Strawberries are very low in pectin so you do need to add a fair amount of sugar to get them to set. If you use less sugar they will not set. You can try using some strawberries that are not fully ripe and still have the white tips but I have had hit-or-miss success with this method.


One way to vary the amount of sugar, especially if you are not using pectin, is to mix the strawberries with a higher pectin fruit such as apples, blackberries, crab apples, cranberries, gooseberries, grapes, or citrus peel.  This works for any low pectin fruit such as apricots, blueberries, peaches, pears, rhubarb, and raspberries.


If you are willing to use pectin you can use a commercial variety, and there are some low sugar ones out there, but another option is to make your own homemade pectin using apples or lemons. There are excellent directions in the book “Preserving Memories” by Judy Glattstein (who I confess is my mother and an excellent canner).


There are recipes that talk about using honey or other sweeteners but I find that most of them call for gelatin which I prefer not to use.