Tuesday 5 January 2010
High Hopes for 2010
So, this year I have high hopes for my produce. Along with tomatoes for chutney, my speciality ;-) I am hoping to grow enough cranberries for sauce, redcurrants for jelly, blackcurrants for jam, and beetroot, onions, red cabbage and gherkins for pickling.... yes a tall order, but I guess it's better to aim high. Fingers crossed that the growing season is a good one.
Green Tomato Chutney
I'm not totally sure why my first attempt to preserve some of my produce was green tomato chutney... maybe it had something to do with coming to the end of my first growing season and not being convinced that the remaining tomatoes were going to ripen naturally.
So, I searched on the internet and found a recipe for green tomato chutney. It called for:
4lb (2Kg) Green Tomatoes
1lb (450g) Cooking Apples, peeled and cored
1 1/4 lb (575g) Shallots or onions
8oz (225g) Sultanas
1/2oz (15g) Fresh root ginger
8-10 dried red chillies (think I only used 4-5)
1oz (25g) Salt
1lb (450g) Brown Sugar
1 Pint (600ml) Malt Vinegar (I used Balsamic)
and told me to:
Chop the tomatoes, apples, onions and raisins. Alternatively mince these if you prefer smoother chutney (I minced them); Place them in a large saucepan.
Bruise the ginger and chillies: place them between sheets of greaseproof paper and hit them with a rolling pin or mallet. Tie them in a piece of muslin and add the packet to the saucepan.
Stir in all the remaining ingredients and bring the chutney to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the chutney until thickened to the desired consistency.
Stir the preserve frequently during cooking to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Remove the bag of spices before potting the Chutney.
How easy was that?.... Extremely, have a look at the results.
The only thing I was paranoid about was ensuring that the jars were properly sterilised, so that I wouldn't open one a couple of months later and be faced with a layer of fungus. Luckily this wasn't an issue; I made the chutney in September and most of it was consumed around Christmas... yum!
So, I searched on the internet and found a recipe for green tomato chutney. It called for:
4lb (2Kg) Green Tomatoes
1lb (450g) Cooking Apples, peeled and cored
1 1/4 lb (575g) Shallots or onions
8oz (225g) Sultanas
1/2oz (15g) Fresh root ginger
8-10 dried red chillies (think I only used 4-5)
1oz (25g) Salt
1lb (450g) Brown Sugar
1 Pint (600ml) Malt Vinegar (I used Balsamic)
and told me to:
Chop the tomatoes, apples, onions and raisins. Alternatively mince these if you prefer smoother chutney (I minced them); Place them in a large saucepan.
Bruise the ginger and chillies: place them between sheets of greaseproof paper and hit them with a rolling pin or mallet. Tie them in a piece of muslin and add the packet to the saucepan.
Stir in all the remaining ingredients and bring the chutney to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the chutney until thickened to the desired consistency.
Stir the preserve frequently during cooking to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Remove the bag of spices before potting the Chutney.
How easy was that?.... Extremely, have a look at the results.
The only thing I was paranoid about was ensuring that the jars were properly sterilised, so that I wouldn't open one a couple of months later and be faced with a layer of fungus. Luckily this wasn't an issue; I made the chutney in September and most of it was consumed around Christmas... yum!
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