Last Updated on March 13, 2025
A Seasonal Recipe for Green Tomato Chutney that will last all year.
It’s that time of year; the last of tomatoes need to be harvested – many of them simply won’t ever ripen and will rot on the vine if they are left unharvested. I grow my tomatoes so each year I’m left with literally kilos of green tomatoes which I make into green tomato soup or green tomato chutney. If you don’t you may well find that your local farmers’ market has baskets of them for sale at a very reasonable price.
Green tomato chutney is more useful than soup for me simply because English chutneys (as opposed to the fresher Indian-style ones) are quite stable and can happily be stored in a cool kitchen cupboard for a year. While we may have appropriated these flavourful sauces from the days of British colonization of India in the 18th and 19th centuries, they’ve evolved from the Indian chutneys made with local fruits herbs and spices into what is sometimes called the ‘Major Grey’ style of chutney – one made with vinegar and sugar which helps preserve the mixture without the need for a fridge.
The word chutney comes from the Hindi word chatni (to lick or to eat with appetite) and while British chutney recipes may date back hundreds of years, the Indian versions are thousands of years old and, dare I say it, considerably more refined than the bastardised British version.
Green tomato chutney is an easy recipe to adapt to the ingredients you have to hand. If you want to use a mixture of red and green tomatoes that is fine and if you are short of tomatoes then a cooking apple or peeled squash will work just as well.
The version I make uses Opies stem ginger and whatever dried fruit I have to hand (sultanas, raisins or currants). I use Sarson’s malt vinegar and white sugar together with a mix of allspice, fresh chilli, onion and garlic. Once everything is peeled and chopped it goes into a large stock pot where it bubbles away until it thickens up nicely. That can be anything from 25 minutes to an hour or more depending on how ripe and juicy your tomatoes are. Don’t try to cook the mixture too fast or it will burn and stick to the pan
The cooked chutney goes into an assortment of sterilised jars that I’ve saved over the summer and once sealed up, it’s stored in a dark cupboard for a month. I gift my friends and neighbours and the rest gets used throughout the year. Once a jar is opened I keep it in the fridge but, honestly, I don’t remember chutney being stored anywhere except in the larder when I was growing up…so, it’s probably not necessary.
This is a recipe you can make your own, adding more sugar if you prefer and using whatever mixture of fruit and vegetables you have available. For my part, I start by weighing my tomatoes and onions and then work based on a minimum of 1 part vinegar to 4 parts fruit and vegetables. If you like a sweetish chutney or you have very green tomatoes, then an equal quantity of sugar and vinegar will work well. Reduce the sugar a little if you like – I generally work to 400g sugar, 500 ml vinegar and 2kg weighed fresh vegetables. I add around 300-400 grams of dried fruit (depending on what needs to be used up) and season with 2 or 3 garlic cloves, a chopped chilli and a teaspoon of allspice. Don’t cut the sugar too much – it helps preserve the chutney.
Green Tomato Chutney
Ingredients
- 1 kilogram green tomatoes
- 1 large onion
- 250 millilitres malt vinegar
- 200 grams sugar Ideally soft brown sugar, but any kind of sugar will work
- 150 grams dried fruit – sultanas, raisins or currents
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1-2 pieces Opies stem ginger
- 1 small green chilli seeds removed and chopped finely
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Wash the tomatoes and chop them into equal sized pieces. Quarter small and medium tomatoes, chop larger tomatoes into roughly the same size.
- Peel and chop the onion and garlic
- Deseed and chop the chilli
- Chop the ginger into small pieces
- Roughly chop the dried fruit
- Put everything into a large stockpot
- Heat gently, stirring constantly until all the sugar is dissolved
- Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until the mixture has reduced down so that it is thick. This can take anything from 20 minutes to an hour depending on how ripe your tomatoes are!
- Stir regularly to make sure the mixture doesn't stick
- Once you have a thick mixture that allows you to draw a spoon over the top and leave a trace, spoon the mixture into warm sterilised jars and seal.
- Store the jars in a dark cupboard for at least three weeks before opening.
Nutrition
I sterilise my jars and lids by half-filling them with water and heating them in the air fryer for 15 minutes at 180C. For larger jars, you may need to use your main oven. You can also sterilise jars in the microwave or by putting them in a large pan of cold water and bringing the water to the boil.
Filling the jars is much easier with a jam funnel. Mine is made out of silicon and fits over every type of jar I have so that I can pour or ladle in the chutney without spilling it down the side.
Green tomato chutney is a great way to use up end-of-season tomatoes. Frugal and easy to make, it will make an excellent store cupboard provision
Simple and delicious
Just what I need right now – and this recipe looks easy enough for me to try!