Red and green
Two chutneys, one name.
- Red tomato chutney
- Made from ripe fruit. Sweet, deep, dark and soft, closer to a jam in texture. Long cooking is needed to drive off the water.
- Green tomato chutney
- Made from unripe fruit. Sharp, firm, pale and chunky. The pieces hold their shape and it needs less cooking down.
- Water content
- Ripe tomatoes are around ninety-five per cent water. This is the whole difficulty of the red version.
- Green tomatoes
- Firmer, starchier and more acidic, which makes them a much easier chutney fruit.
- Season
- Green tomato chutney is a September and October preparation, made when the plants are pulled up.
Green tomato chutney
The easier and more traditional of the two. FoodHQ does not publish keeping times, acidity figures or jar-processing schedules. In the UK the Food Standards Agency is the authority on whether and how a sealed preserve is safe to store — follow its guidance on sterilising, sealing and storing.
- Chop the green tomatoes into chunks. There is no need to skin or seed them.
- Salt them in a bowl overnight with sliced onions. This draws out a great deal of water and firms the pieces.
- Drain and rinse briefly. Do not skip the draining — the liquid is considerable.
- Put them in a wide pan with vinegar, sugar, sultanas, salt and whole spices tied in muslin — mustard seed, coriander seed, chilli and allspice suit it.
- Simmer uncovered for an hour to ninety minutes, stirring as it thickens.
- Apply the channel test, remove the spice bag, and pot into hot sterilised jars with vinegar-proof lids. A chutney tastes raw and vinegary when it is first potted and mellows considerably over weeks. Judging it on the day you make it is the commonest reason people conclude they do not like their own chutney.
Red tomato chutney, and the variations
- Skin the tomatoes first — score, boiling water for thirty seconds, then cold. Skins do not soften and roll into unpleasant threads.
- Expect a much longer cook. Two hours is not unusual, and the reduction is dramatic.
- Add a proportion of apple, which supplies body and shortens the cook.
- Tomato and chilli relish, cooked less far, sharper and used as a condiment rather than a preserve.
- Tomato kasundi, the Bengali version with mustard and turmeric, which is fierce and superb.
- Tomato and red pepper, roasted first, which deepens the flavour considerably.
- Spiced tomato chutney with ginger and garlic, which is the version most people mean by the name.
What each goes with
Green tomato chutney is sharp and firm and belongs with cheese, cold meat and pork pie. It is one of the great British cheeseboard preserves and it cuts fat well.
Red tomato chutney is softer and sweeter and works better as a condiment — with a bacon sandwich, a burger, sausages, or alongside curry. It is closer to a relish in use.
Both improve substantially with keeping, and both are harsh in the first weeks.
Common questions
Why salt the tomatoes overnight?
It draws out a great deal of water and firms the pieces, which shortens the cooking and improves the texture.
Do I need to skin them?
For ripe red tomatoes, yes — the skins roll into threads. For green ones, no.
Why is my red tomato chutney taking so long?
Ripe tomatoes are almost entirely water. Add some apple, use a wider pan, and be patient.
Which is better?
Green for cheese and cold meat; red as a condiment. They are used quite differently.
Can I use tinned tomatoes?
You can, and the result is looser and less interesting. Fresh fruit holds its texture.
Try this next
- Tomato the fruit itself
- How to make chutney the general method
- How to make apple chutney the classic partner in a mixed chutney
- Cheddar what green tomato chutney belongs with