My mother was the jam maker and my father preserved hundreds of jars of fruit,every summer. We ate one huge jar of peaches or pears every day at breakfast – if the season had been good. So it was kind of rare for one of my parents to make a chutney or relish. My great Aunts were the real chutney makers. It is a summer smell. A summer taste, along side all those other summer tastes. Chutney should be chunky with that whole sweet and sour thing going. It complements cold meats and is perfect with cheese. 
But on the rare occasions that my mother did make a chutney it lasted about a week. So good. Today I thought I would be clever and make this batch with the yellow tomatoes. There are so many. I imagined I would get a creamy golden product. Instead I got a brown kind of snotty product. But it tastes perfect. The next batch I will make with the red tomatoes as it is really such a simple recipe. And the deep rich burgundy colour is a little more appetising!
This is an old early 70’s recipe and it really does reflect the period i think. All that sugar and cayenne!
My darling friend in NZ makes this every summer as well. She just makes it in tiny batches, whenever she gets a few extra tomatoes out of the garden. She is a very laid back cook. She just wanders about the kitchen as she drinks her coffee in the morning, throwing bits and pieces into the pot. Later in the day she pops it into any jars or containers she can find and seals it up. All very matter of fact. No fuss. We are sisters from different mothers. She is the sister who does not fuss. I said to her years ago that I had lost my Mothers recipe and she pulled out hers and it was the same one from the same book. An old NZ Womens Weekly recipe book if I remember rightly.
Tomato Chutney
4lb ripe chopped tomatoes (about 16 big ones)
1lb peeled and chopped apples (about 4 or 5)
1lb onions, sliced and diced (about 4 or 5)
2 cups each of sultanas and raisins
1/4 tsp cayenne (or more if you want it hotter)
1tsp each dry mustard and ground allspice
1tblsp salt
3 heaped cups brown sugar
2 1/2 cups cider vinegar
Place all ingredients in the big heavy bottomed pot and stir, cook for 1 1/2 hours to two hours until thick.
Ladle hot chutney into hot jars, seal. These keep quite well in a dark cool cupboard but to be on the safe side you may choose to store them in the fridge.
Last night I roasted two chicken breasts, basting them with the last of the pickling brine and a little oil. After turning the chicken twice I slathered it with a little mountain of fresh warm chutney, grilled, after 10 minutes or so I topped that with heaps of grated parmesan and grilled some more. So good. And very pretty. Actually I almost took a picture but hunger got to me first. So here is a picture of Queenie’s bottom instead!
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
42 responses to “Easy Tomato Chutney”
I love the pictures of the spiderwebs. Very lovely with the backlighting. The chicken with the chutney sounds delicious, too!
I love spiders webs with the dew, something jewel like about them.. Thanks neil c
Excellent photos of the web !
thank you.. a lovely misty morning c
What great photos!
Thank you Miss Yummy, hope you are having a good day..c
Love the picture of you.
Great photos and a familiar recipe!. My Auntie used to make all the chutney in the family, she passed away years ago and I havent eaten it since. You’ve inspired me to give it a go, so I thank you 🙂
you are so welcome.. let me know how it goes.. aren’t the old aunties such treasures! c
Yes, great photos of the webs, made even more so by their lack of a tenant. Although I’ve heard of it, I’ve never had the opportunity to taste tomato chutney. It does sound really good, though.
I was very careful not to collect any spiders.. chgjohn.. I was feeling kind…um… Today! c
Your recipe sounds amazing! I will have to give it a go.
Your pictures are so beautiful. Thanks for stopping by my space, it led me back to you and your wonderful blog!
welcome, welcome. Lovely to have you drop in. c
I can always picture the kitchen in your stories. Great post and recipe. I’ve heard that yellow tomatoes can be tricky.
Oh my kitchen, greg, Big wide bare diagonal wood floor boards, and French doors that take up one wall of the kitchen, hence all the smells and sounds.. as to the yellow tomatoes I am leaving them for fresh from now on! c
Lovely photos (webs and bottoms all included) and perfect timing with the recipe – have not quite enough tomatoes to make a big pot of conserva today, but plenty for chutney!
Oh good tanya, this recipe is so forgiving you can make any amount really! let me know how it goes.. c
What a FANTASTIC tomato chutney recipe! I nearly bought a couple of bags of tomatoes from a local farmer who comes around with veggies and the like every Satruday – new to me as we have been away from home the last 3 years but very excited to know that this guy will be around every week for me to buy fresh locally grown and cleaned produce – anyway, a v e r y l o n g way of telling you I will be buying some tomatoes next week to make your chutney! 😀
Even being the arachnophobic that I am – I do admire the beauty of the early morning dew drops on your spiders webs.
Have a happy Saturday.
🙂 Mandy xo
Oh lovely Mandy. let me know how your chutney turns out! How wonderful to have a local farmer with veg or sale.. so much fresher. c
Looks so tasty – and what a wonderful memory of your Mom ant Aunties to go with it! Thanks for sharing it. Now that the tomatoes have started to come in, I’ll be needing more uses for them. Assuming they survive Irene, that is…
Love the spider webs – early mornings are the best, aren’t they?
Thank you and i am hoping you do not get that 12 inches of rain they are talking about..Though i would not mind one or two!! keep us posted!! c
What a beautiful photo of the spider’s web! It looks like strings of tiny pearls! 🙂
Yes celia i thought they were very jewel like.. lovely description cecilia
Lovely images! Have you started your starter yet????
*waits with baited breath*
I too have bated breath. but they do not send the starter until monday and then i will START the STARTER!! how exciting.. c
That sounds divine. We have all of those things available in the garden or at the farmer’s market, right now. Clearly, my husband needs to get cooking 😉 Also, I agree with everyone that your spiders’ webs photos are glorious. We have a jewel cat’s face spider living behind our compost who spins like those. You’ve inspired me to photograph her work.
Take a photo of the spider too .. i have no idea what she looks like.. can you show me? And yes, a hubby in the kitchen is a wondrous thing! c
Great spider web shots! I copied the recipe too.
Lovely harold. that is such an easy chutney, hope you enjoy it!
I love that chutney recipe, but I guess for me I will add more cayenne. I love hot chutneys! BTW thanks for visiting my blog 🙂
Hi there, welcome, actually if i remember rightly the older recipe calls for a full teaspoon of cayenne, and a wee bit more sugar to balance it, which is way too much for me, so that is great if you like it really hot..you will be getting the original.. excellent c