The really long Scottish tomato growing season is over, I say long, as it takes a really long time for them to ripen if you grow them outside. The weather has turned cold before our tomatoes are ready. Turns out the Scottish mice know when it’s time to pick tomatoes. We’d hope to leave the tomatoes on the vine until they had more color, but the mice have been quick to show us that we should enjoy what we have.
I have always wanted to make a green tomato chutney, but the thought of picking my tomatoes before they are red is hard to do.
This recipe uses agave instead of cane sugar and is quick and easy to make. Replacing cane sugar with agave is not a one for one replacement – you’ll use less agave than the traditional sugar. A trade-off for not using cane sugar is a reduced self-life; since it’s low in sugar and acid, it will only store for about 3 weeks.
Green Tomato Chutney
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: approximately 500g or 2 small jam jars
Ingredients:
500g of green tomatoes
75ml white wine vinegar
60ml agave nectar
3g /1tsp yellow mustard seeds or
2g/2/3 tsp pink peppercorns
1-3 red chilli, halved, deseeded and thinly sliced
100g sliced shallot, or diced white onion
75ml water
seasoning if required
Method:
Slice your shallots and chop your tomatoes. Thinly slice your chilli, adjust how much you use depending on their heat and your tastebuds. I used three small chillis from our garden.
Put all you ingredients into a medium sized pot with a lid on and heat over a moderate heat for 10 minutes.
Remove the lid, increase the heat and continue cooking for 8-10 minutes. Stir occasionally to stop the jam catching and burning. It should reduce and appear glossy and become chutney-like. For a very soft mixture you can lower the heat and reduce further.
Once cool taste and adjust seasoning if needed. If you add more vinegar or sweetener, you may want to cook it longer to let the flavour meld.
Pour your cooled mixture into a sterilised jar. You will can the shelf-life if you vac-pac a portion and store it the fridge until you have finished the first jar.
