by Nina Pope posted Thu 15th Sep '11

Ingredients

• Tomatoes, 2.5 lb GREEN!
• Apple, 2.5 lb Cooking
• Garlic, 6 large cloves crushed
• Sugar, 1lb 6oz soft brown or demerara
• Onion, 2.5 lb
• Ginger, 2 level dessertspoons (ground)
• Salt, 1/2 tablespoon
• Raisins, 1 lb (seedless)
• Cayenne Pepper, 1/2 tablespoon
• Pickling Spice, 1 oz
• Malt Vinegar, 3 pints (genuine)

Method

A small preserving pan, eight 1lb preserving jars, a mincer, string and some gauze.

Wash the tomatoes and cut them into quarters, peel the onions and quarter them, quarter and core the apples, leaving the peel on and keeping them in water to prevent browning.

Using the medium blade of a mincer, mince the tomatoes and place them in the pan, next mince the onions, then the raisins followed by the apples (don't wory if they have now turned brown), adding them all to the pan. Now add the garlic, cayenne, salt ginger and sugar, blend everything thoroughly. Next tie the pickling spice in a small piece of double thickness gauze and attach it to the handle so that it hangs down into the other ingredients.
Now pour in the vinegar, bring to simmering point, remove any scum from the surface, then let it simmer very gently for approx. 3 1/2 hours with out covering. Stir occassionally esp. towards the end to prevent sticking. It's ready when the vinegar has almost been absorbed, the chutney has thickened to a nice soft consistency and the spoon leaves a trail. Do be careful not to overcook. The recipe says that a food processor can be used instead of a mince - to be honest I've never used either I just chop everything really well!

Background

This is a Delia recipe and VERY handy for using up green tomatoes - last a whole year until the next crop too.