Gran's Green Tomato Chutney

My gran's been making this wonderfully tangy and sweet green tomato chutney for as long as I can remember. It's fantastic as a relish in a burger or just with cheese and biscuits.

It's a brilliant way to use up unripe tomatoes if the weather (like this year) hasn't been great for them. I picked 5kg of green tomatoes from my allotment as they were starting to get blight then made two batches of this stuff. Some will be saved for Christmas presents and some will get eaten over the year.

Step 1 Ingredients

Ingredients:

• 2.5kg green tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 0.5kg onions, finely sliced
• 4 tsp / 30g salt
• 1L malt vinegar
• 0.5kg soft light brown sugar
• 250g sultanas, roughly chopped
• 3 tsp / 20g ground pepper

Equipment:

• Preserving pan or other large lidless pan
• 7 - 10 jars with lids
• Food wrap / cling film
• Sticky labels

Approximate cost: 2.5 GBP per batch (if you grew the tomatoes).

Comments

[jevman]

Hi
Help needed asap. Am a complete beginner at this game. The recipe looks delicious so got to give it a go. I have picked all my green tomatoes and intend salting them overnight with the onions. My dilemma is that quite a lot of my toms are very small ( the size of a marble ) and I was wondering if these would still be ok to use. ( told you I was a complete beginner ).Any advise would be greatly appreciated. I may even send some photos, once I learn how to upload or download them or whatever it is you do. Suppose I will have to incorporate the help of some 6 year old for that task.

Regards jevman......

[Jayefuu]

So long as they're cut in half that's fine.

[abernardi1]

I am just about to finish my second batch of chutney following yr recipe (though I've added some apples this time).
Anyway, the first one was ABSOLUTELY delicious.
Thanks.

[rachelbee]

great looking recipe just started it so fingers crossed may add an apple and a home grown chilli pepper !!!!!

[abilutelyfabulous]

I'm just away to make this now and I am deliriously excited. Obviously I need to get out more! Anyway. Wish me luck! I don't think I've quite got 2.5kg green tomatoes but I might bulk it out with a cooking apple or two. Eek!

[jevman]

Just made 7 jars of your green tomato chutney and it is delicious. Will definately be making lots more, and trying different variations.

Cheers.... jevman.......

[TrudyBe]

I've got pickling vinegar, is that ok to use?

[dhartley-nelson]

does the canning process actually seal the jar? Or is that not a hugely important due to the acidity of the finished product? I am chopping tonight to make this for the first time! so excited to try it! :)

[LexieMiller]

Hi, this is the first time I have made this, it has come out very dark, like treacle-coloured. I used black ground pepper instead, is that ok? It does smell very vinegary too but I am hopefull it will taste amazing!

[Chutney bird]

Hi, I'm going to make chutney at the weekend and I have 1.5kg of green tomatoes. I was going to put in 1kg of yellow and red tomatoes, so I was wondering how much sugar I should put in? Thanks.

[Jayefuu]

Sorry I didn't reply, I was away. How did it go?

[Chutney bird]

That's alright, I put 400g of sugar in - but not tried any yet. Will let you know when i've tried it and will upload a picture. Thanks

[depotdevoid]

Thanks for the recipe, I just finished up a batch last night. I only made it 2/5 size though, as when I saw how many tomatoes 1 kg was I decided I was tired of chopping veggies!

It's very good, this is the first time I've ever had chutney and I'm amazed at how delicious it is.

[Jayefuu]

That's great to hear :) Will you tolerate more tomato chopping next time having tasted it now? Get any photos? :)

[depotdevoid]

Oh yes, I'll definitely be making more! I was a bit uncertain about the whole thing, as the only time I specifically recall hearing about chutney before reading your 'ible was Rimmer complaining about Lister smothering everything in bizarre chutneys on Red Dwarf. I was not at all sure what I was getting myself into!

Here's a quick pic of the results. The 2/5 recipe didn't make nearly enough!

[Jayefuu]

Got the toms growing yet for this year's batch? :D

[depotdevoid]

As promised, here's a picture!  I made a double batch this time around, to make up for such a small batch last year.  I'll be giving them out as gifts around Christmas time. 

[depotdevoid]

Oh, you'd better believe it! I've got . . . uh . . . 25 tomato plants growing, so there should be more than enough! If I remember I'll post some pics of the results come harvest time!

[shubbard3]

I had a single tomato plant in my first ever vegie plot and it gave 4kg of fruit! Not being in a green house it was late to turn red but I got a few good batches of soup out of the first 1.5Kg which did turn. Last night I stripped the plant clean of all the greenies and set them to salt over night :D 24hrs later I made your chutney. The only thing I did differently was use 800ml of vinegar and added 2 tsp of garam masala. It took 2hrs20min to get to the right consistency. I am extremely happy with the results and look forward to tasting these in a few months to see how they change from the warm version currenly gracing a cheesy cracker. Thumbs up OP :)

[nouldcott-burke]

After spending the afternoon picking all my fallen over tomatoes, searched for a recipe if could use them in and found this one. Spent ages chopping them and onions and sent hubby out for ingredients. Have scrounged jars from friends and have just potted up. My god it is delicious, couldn't wait and had some with evening meal, have got another batch to make when i get some more jars! My husband also thinks it is outstanding, have promised some to friends but am now a bit reluctant to give it away. Great recipe and easy to follow steps. Well done and Thank-You very much will keep that recipe for ever. :-)

[carrerclan]

most of my tomatoes rippened and I was left with a quarter of the recipe...
well ok, I'll make a quarter of the batch...I stuck to the recipe, left the tomatoes/onion/salt overnight and this morning have been making the chutney. However its way too dry...Ive gone and added another 100 ml vinegar/sugar (which I dissolved but alas that too has evaporated...)
It's brown (has been on for 1h 20) and Id say not far off being cooked...however it's not a question of reducing...more a question of keeping some liquid...HELP ;) any advice very, very gratefully accepted.

[Jayefuu]

Ooo, if it's too dry perhaps add water not more vinegar otherwise it'll end up saltier.

[carrerclan]

Thanks for that, I'll try that in the morning...makes sense ;)
A lot of my toms were cherry which possibly have less liquid content anyway?
thanks for taking time to answer my query!

[Jayefuu]

Possible! It's not an exact science. As long as it turns out tasty, who cares, right? :p

[abeamish1]

I made a small batch of this chutney this morning (about 800 g green tomatoes). Having no sultanas I substituted dates and currants--heavenly! Thanks for the very, very clear instructions.

[Jayefuu]

Great! Post a picture if you haven't eaten it all already :p

[tiggyboo]

Can i make the chutney without sultanas?

[Jayefuu]

Absolutely. Other people have posted saying that they've substituted them for other dried fruits like apricots, dates or raisins.

[TAS999]

Hi there

I don't know if this is a stupid Q or not but here goes...

Once you have put the cling film over the top of the jar and it starts to retract as the contents cool. Does it need to end up touching the chutney in order to keep the "bugs" from growing?

[Jayefuu]

Doesn't neeeeeed to. Some people don't bother with a cover at all. It just helps to keep the jar airtight in case of a faulty lid and stops the acidic content of the jar attacking the metal of the lid.

[tiggyboo]

Hi, I halved the ingredients as i don't have a pan big enough, soaked the toms and onions overnight and have just realised i didn't halve the salt, as I will be cooking the chutney this afternoon is there anything i can do as I'm worried it will be to salty. Thanks

[Jayefuu]

It _shouldn't_ be an issue. The salt is mixed in with the tomatoes and left overnight because the salt will draw the juices out of the tomatoes. Most of the salt is tipped away with the tomato juices when you drain them the next morning. If you're still worried you could rinse the toms after you drain them. This will negate the salting period because you're adding some of the water back in, but if you shake them well you shouldn't increase the boiling time too much.

[slomer1]

Hay just maid it but i made a few changes like i put 250ml red wine vinegar, 250ml balsamic, 125ml rice vinegar, 125ml cider vinegar and 250ml molt vinegar, also i added a lil stick of cinnamon a few wild onions and a few red grapes all in all it smells and tastes great its slightly darker and richer but dam its good with some nice home made bread and a smear of liver pate ;)

[Suzi2011]

I've never made any chutney before and have just harvested 1.6kg of green tomatoes. I found this recipe and I'm going to give it a try... I was thinking I had lots but I haven't get enough for your measurements so will have to halve everything :(

I'm planning on giving some away as Christmas presents so I might have to go for smaller jars or I won't have any left for myself lol

[Jayefuu]

How'd it go?

[Suzi2011]

Oh, and to anyone reading the comments that is new to chutney making like I am... make sure you set aside a good couple of hours for cutting all the tomatoes!!! lol

[Suzi2011]

I managed to get a few more green tomatoes off the later plants that grew in the ground from last years 'left' tomatoes and had 1.9kg in the end.

I worked out I had 76% of your recipe so calculated the quantities based on 76%... the second problem i hit was having a pan/pans big enough for it all... i used our biggest stock pot and the large wok which I luckily managed to halve the quantities almost perfectly.

All the way through I kept thinking I was doing something wrong... too much tomato... not enough liquid etc but the longer I left it the more it looked like yours lol

My second dilema was that my jars came while i was out so I frantically researched whether I could let it cool and reheat for jarring which i discovered is fine.

Following day... baked the jars, reheated the chutney and jarred... all very frightening stuff for a beginner lol :D I didn't use the cling film though but I was using new jars/lids for preserving but I think they're all ok!

The taster was fab!! My two year old loves tomatoes and played a big part in watering the plants with me and helping me pick them, so she was happy to give the chutney a try too... I think it was a success! My jars are maturing still and I have 5 small ones for Christmas presents.

I've attached a couple of pics :) thank you for sharing the recipe!!

[cainslie1]

I picked tons of green tomatoes today and hated to see them go to waste. Browsing recipes, I came across yours and for some reason I thought the 'Gran' would mean it had to be good. I was wrong. It tastes amazing! Didn't change a thing, only I had no patience to wait overnight to let the tomatoes & onions sit, so it boiled about 4 hours, but so worth it. Thanks for sharing your recipe, it's a keeper :-)

[Jayefuu]

Glad to hear it :)

[irobinson3]

Good Morning,
Well I'm up with the lark and very excited about making my first ever batch of chutney!
God your recipe from a friend and found your forum so watch this space to see how it all goes. Some of my tomatoes will be red ones I hope this doesn't matter? I've just got SO many of them I thought I'd use them all...