Mixed Tomato Chutney

Tomatoes, tomatoes everywhere – and not a ray of sunshine in sight.

Well, the above is a bit of a fib. We haven’t got that many tomatoes this year threatening to go to waste. We did some years ago, a real glut of them, and I made green tomato chutney which lasted us years – with the last jar (or content of) possibly better tasting than the first.

The last of the tomatoes are on the turn. Some are turning ripe, which is good – but without the promised Indian summer, it’s doubtful that they’ll make it. Others are rotting before they ripen, so I was on a bit of a rescue mission this morning, kitted out in my husband’s waterproof as the rain and the wind had just set in. I didn’t stay out there long. Ominous squeaking from tall, old trees across on the other side of the river bank (the river runs below our garden wall), made me pick fast and make a hasty retreat. Not that any of the trees are so tall that they could have reached me up at the top end of the garden, but it sure would have made me jump. As I’m treating myself very gently at the moment, due to the Gastritis flaring up badly (in turn due to being given a new medication for the RA, which had the opposite to the desired effect), I’ll stay indoors while the wind doth blow.

Traditionally you're not to pick/harvest anything in the wet, but I can’t see a problem if you’re going to cook it straight away. The result of the harvest was a little tweaking of my recipe for Tomato Chutney, as I had a mixture of ripe, un-ripe and half ripe tomatoes. The resulting chutney has a lovely aroma – so I hope the same can be said of its flavour. Homemade chutney is all the nicer for being allowed to mature, but I’ll leave some un-bottled, to taste... (which I did, on my last slice of rye bread. Yum!)

Mixed Tomato Chutney

1kg mixed ripe, green and half ripe tomatoes (2/3 of mine were ripe)
3 medium cooking apples - or tart eating apples
2 onions (I used 1 red and 1 white onion)
350 g brown sugar (I used Demerara, as I had it in, but Muscovado is even better)
200 g raisins and sultanas mixed (or just one kind)
2 level tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
350 ml mixed cider vinegar and white vinegar.

Chop tomatoes, peel, core and chop apples, chop onions. Add all to a large thick-bottomed saucepan, together with all the rest of the ingredients. I would have used all raisins, but on raiding the grandchildren’s boxes of raisins, found they hadn’t left me enough (bad nanny! But I will replace them in the next shop), so mixed some sultanas in. Mix well then boil for 1 hour 10 minutes, till fruit is tender and chutney has thickened.

Ladle into sterilised jars, through a wide-necked funnel, and cap at once.

Did you know… that chutneys and pickles are alkaline foods, rather than acidic? A little of either will help balance over-acidic stomachs. Should be good for the Gastritis.

Ginger is anti-inflammatory, and eating onions may help prevent gastric ulcers by mopping up free radicals, as well as by preventing growth of Helicobacter Pylori, an ulcer-forming micro organism. Onions have also shown to be beneficial in the fight against several diseases and disorders. These include cataracts, cardiovascular disease, various cancers and disorders of the stomach and the bladder.

Tomatoes, although part of the Nightshade(Solanaceae)family – foods which should be avoided by RA sufferers (including peppers, potatoes and aubergine) – are beneficial cooked, as they then contain Lycopene, an important substance found to be protective against a growing list of cancers.
I also find that I can eat a small amount of home-grown tomatoes, sun-ripened and without any kind of pesticides or herbicides used.

…and did you know that... the tomato is the fruit of the plant called Lycopersicon Lycopersicum, and that the first part of the name means ‘wolf peach’ in Latin? It was at one time thought to be dangerous like the wolf, hence the name – and the leaves are indeed slightly toxic.

The French call the tomato ‘love apple’ (pomme d’amour), the Italians call it ‘golden apple’ (pomodoro), which probably stems from the fact that the earliest imported tomatoes were yellow.

The tomatoes originated in South America – and an Aztec recipe is in existence, which includes tomatoes. Something like a Salsa, unbelievable as it may seem.