This was another new recipe for me and I used tomatoes that were just under ripe. This required:
2 lbs Tomatoes
1 lb Onions
1/2 tbsp Salt
1 medium Red Pepper
1/2 tbsp Mustard Seeds
4 oz White Sugar
8 fl oz White Wine Vinegar
This is what I did:
Peel and finely chop the tomatoes and onions (I didn't actually peel the tomatoes, but the recipe said to do that). Mix together in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and leave overnight (I left them all day rather than overnight).
Put the tomatoes and onions in a colander and rinse under cold running water. Drain well.
De-seed and finely chop the pepper. Mix with the mustard seeds, tomatoes and onions in a bowl.
In a pan, mix the sugar and vinegar, heat gently to dissolve the sugar then bring to the boil.
Add the contents of the bowl, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Decant into hot sterilised jars and seal. Store for about 4 weeks before opening.
I did try this and it tastes very nice now... I assume it gets better as it matures.
I thought I'd do something completely different with some of the tomatoes and green tomato jam seemed completely different; I made a couple of batches of this.
This is what the recipe called for:
3 lbs Green Tomatoes
2 lbs Cooking Apples
4 tbsp Lemon Juice (bottled)
1 oz Root Ginger
3 lbs Sugar (I used a mixture of jam sugar and granulated)
A Little Water
This is what I did:
Wash and quarter the tomatoes (the second time I chopped them smaller than quarters). Peel, core and cut the apples into chunks. Place in a pan with the lemon juice.
Slice the ginger and tie up in muslin; place this in the pan.
Cover with enough water to come to the level of the fruit. I didn't really know what or how much this meant; the first time I think I put far too much water in and it took ages to simmer away, so the next time I just put in enough to cover the bottom of the pan before I added the tomatoes and apples.
Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer until the fruit is tender.
Remove from the heat, add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
Return to the heat, bring back to the boil then allow to simmer until reaching the correct consistency. Stir occasionally.
Decant into warm sterilised jars and seal.
This really is a lovely jam, a couple of people have said it tastes a bit like plum. You wouldn't think it was made from tomatoes and it is delicious on hot buttered granary toast.
I got this recipe from a veggie growing forum on the internet and thought I'd give it a go. I think it said that the recipe is originally from Germany.
This is what I used:
5 lbs Green Tomatoes, 1 inch (2.5cm) diameter maximum, stems removed
2 pints Malt Vinegar
6 Cloves
1 x 1 in Cinnamon Stick
1 whole Nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 lb Sugar
1 pint White Wine Vinegar
This is what I did:
Place the tomatoes in a large pan with the malt vinegar. Stir very gently and bring to the boil, then strain immediately.
Put the tomatoes very carefully into a bowl, taking care not to split the skins.
Boil the cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and sugar with the white wine vinegar in a separate pan.
Pour hot over the tomatoes. Cover and leave for 24 hours.
On day three, heat the tomatoes and the liquid together, but do not boil. Lift out the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and pack them carefully into warmed jars. Throw out any that have accidentally split their skins because they will ruin the effect of the pickle.
Reduce the liquid until it turns slightly syrupy, then strain off the spices and pour the cooling pickle over the tomatoes, making sure they are completely covered.
Seal and store for 3 months before opening.
I haven't actually tasted them yet, but the aroma as I was making them was very pleasant so I can't wait to try them.
My bumper harvest of green tomatoes called for a few batches of green tomato chutney.
I based it on a different recipe this time, which didn't use any apples. As per usual I changed it a little bit, so this is what I used:
5 lbs Green Tomatoes
1 lb Onions
1 lb Sultanas
1 oz Root Ginger
Chillies
Spices (black peppercorns, allspice berries, cloves, mustard seed)
1 pint Balsamic Vinegar
1 lb Demerara Sugar
And this is what I did:
Wash and chop the tomatoes and onions; I use a food processor to get them finely chopped. Place in a pan with the sultanas.
Slice the ginger root, chop the chillies in half (the recipe calls for 4 red chillies, but I used a variety that is green when ripe for one batch as I had some in the garden ready to be picked), and place in muslin with the spices. I varied the spice mix each time so didn't necessarily use all of them in each batch. The mix below was allspice berries and cloves.
Secure the muslin parcel and place in the pan with the vinegar.
Bring to the boil. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir occasionally until it has thickened to the right consistency.
Decant into warm sterilised jars and seal.
I am a huge fan of sweet chilli sauce so thought I would have a go at making some chilli jam; this version is from a Nigella recipe. The recipe called for:
150g red chillies (I used 100g)
150g red peppers (I used 200g)
1kg jam sugar
600ml cider vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
I changed the quantities of the peppers because when I was weighing out the chillies there seemed to be rather a lot of them (I used apache).
This is what I did:
Pulsed the chillies in a food processor until they were finely chopped. Added the red pepper and repeated the pulsing.
Placed the vinegar in a pan and dissolved the sugar over a low heat. This is supposed to be without stirring it, but I stirred it once or twice.
Add the pepper mixture to the pan, bring to the boil and let it boil rapidly for 10 minutes.
Take the pan of the heat and leave to cool. It will become more syrupy, then change from syrup to viscous and from viscous to jelly-like as it cools.
After about 40 minutes, decant into warmed, sterilised jars and seal tightly.
This can be eaten straight away and is delicious, even if a little (or very) hot. I guess the variety of chilli used will make a difference to the heat level.
This has gone down an absolute storm... even with it's blow your head off properties. I am eating it with pretty much every meal and all jars are now spoken for. I will definitely be making this again.
