Green Tomato chutney time again

With it being such a mild autumn ~I've left the tomatoes longer this year. Last weekend I went to pick them and had over 7lb of green toms plus loads of red ones!

This year we thought we'd try to make enough to last us the whole year, we used the same recipe as last year but on a larger scale. I did feel sorry for Claire though as after spending two hours pealing tomatoes her hands looked like that of a ninety year old!

We did get to use one of our wedding presents which was a nice big copper bottomed saucepan to make it in (although I did burn quite a bit to the bottom) it took ages for it to reduce down and the mixture was still a bit runny.

All we've got to do now is wait for it to mature...

Green Tomato chutney

After picking all my tomatoes on Saturday we decided to make green tomato chutney on the Sunday and soup for dinner with the red ones.

The chutney was quite easy to make, but quite labour intensive.

Ingredients
3lb of green tomatoes (skinned, this is what takes the time)
12oz onions
12oz of cooking apples
12oz of brown sugar
¾ pint of ready spiced vinegar
A little salt
(Sorry about all the units being in old money, it’s from an old recipe book)
1. Soften the onions in a pan with a little vinegar.
2. Simmer until nearly soft
3. Add the chopped apples, chopped tomatoes and salt with just enough vinegar to stop it sticking
4. Cook until all soft
5. Add the rest of the vinegar and the sugar
6. Boil slowly until the mixture is thick
7. Bottle it, seal it and label it
8. Leave to mature before eating

I did catch the bottom of the pan a little so hopefully this won’t affect the taste too much, when I tried some it had a real punch to it but tasted good.

Other than that, I managed to plant my garlic out in a raised bed I’ve cleared and some flower bulbs in the borders. I also managed to grease band the few fruit trees we've got here at home.

The chickens are still laying a couple of eggs a day and we’ve got quite a few stored up so later in the week I think its time to pickle a dozen for eating in the winter.