IN THIS ISSUE OF OUR HOME, JOURNALIST AND QUALIFIED CHEF JACI HICKEN SHARES HER AUTUMN-PRESERVING RECIPE USING VARIETIES OF HOME-GROWN PRODUCE THAT YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO FIND IN STORES.
As it is autumn, the kitchen is alive, preserving the last of the summer’s bounty, grown just outside the kitchen door.
The beauty of growing your food is you can grow what you like to eat, but you can also grow different varieties from those you can find in the store.
Take the tomato, there are over 10,000 varieties grown worldwide, but only a fraction can be found in the supermarket.
Sweet Black Tomato Chutney
Wandering through the four rows of tomatoes in the backyard this year, you will find a couple of black tomato varieties including Black Krim, Black Russian and a Black Cherry.
If you only have red tomatoes, they can be used as a flavouring for sausage rolls. They will be acceptable in this recipe, you will end up with a redder colour, but the taste should be the same.
This chutney can be served on anything you love to eat with a cooked sauce or chutney, or used as a flavouring in a casserole.
Ingredients:
1kg of black tomatoes peeled and chopped.
250g brown onion finely diced.
250g cooking apples, peeled, cored and diced.
190g sultanas
190g currents
1 pinch of cayenne
1 litre vinegar
675g sugar
Method:
Put all ingredients except the sugar in a preserving pan.
Heat the mixture, stirring until boiling.
Cook until the mixture thickens. It should take about 1½ hours
Add sugar and stir until boiling again.
Cook again for another 1½ hours, stirring frequently, until the mixture does not separate.
Bottle and seal in hot sterilised jars.