Unfortunately, this year's food garden didn't take off as well as it usually does. The destruction caused by deer, groundhogs, and the weather made us have to replant mid June, this delayed a lot of growth till late August/September. This means we have been left with a lot of late season green tomatoes on the vine and as temperatures continue to cool nightly the chances of them vine ripening are slim, so the real question is what to do with all of them? It's a use them NOW or lose them situation most home gardeners in Multi-Season areas are all too familiar with.
Now, there are a few options...
1) Bring them inside and let them ripen, but they won't taste quite the same;
2) Fry them up,
fried green tomatoes are delicious but there is only so much of that you can eat; and
3) Make preserves, it uses a good sized batch at once and they're an excellent homemade gift.
We did a combination of all three, but the winner for long term storage and enjoying our garden through the winter would be #3 Making preserves. I decided to use a combination of apples, green tomatoes, and our cowhorn chilies to make a sweet and spicy chutney perfect for papadums, dosa, or use on a cheese plate (It's great with smoked Gouda! :)).
This recipe is for 2 pints of this sweet, and spicy, spiced chutney.
Here's my recipe for Green Tomato & Apple Chutney:
Green Tomato & Apple Chutney
Makes 2 pints
Ingredients:
2.5 cups Green Tomatoes, shredded
1.5 cups Apples, shredded
3 Cowherd Chilies, shredded
1 medium Red Onion, shredded
1 Tbsp Garlic Ginger Paste
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Cumin, ground
1 tsp Coriander, ground
1/2 tsp Nutmeg, ground
1/2 tsp Chili Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric
2 Pint Jars, Sterilized
Prep Work: Clean all vegetables and fruits, and shred.
Directions:
1. Mix all the ingredients in a pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Make sure that it doesn't start sticking to the bottom of the pot.
2. Cook for about 30-45 minutes or until when pressed with a spoon liquid doesn't readily seep out. Spoon into sterilized jars, to preserve you can place them in the fridge or start the canning process.
Hope you Enjoy!
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Green tomato and apple chutney seems delecious and mouth watering. another good thing is that this recipe is not very expensive to make because most of the ingridients i normally have in my kitchen. i will try this soon.
ReplyDeleteYummy, I always bought these yogurt chilies from market but never knew they are too easy to make at home. But would not it get dusty if we leave the rack uncovered?
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