It's Harvest Festival time up at Haddock's. Everything is doing what it said on the packet, and as usual I'm over-run with produce. And I can't stand to waste anything.
All my tomato based preserves are done, but I still have a glut of fruit on the vines. I had considered grubbing them all up (except our lunchtime 'Portuguese' salad toms), but thought better of it.
With this in mind, I'm always on the look-out for simple pickle/jam/chutney recipes, and this one for Green Tomato Pickle fitted the bill. The recipe is of unknown origin, but possibly dates back to when the tomato was first introduced into Britain around 1590.
The washed green tomatoes were quartered, sprinkled with coarse salt, and left overnight. In the morning the juices were poured off, and I gave the them a quick rinse and dry.
They were then half covered in vinegar, sprinkled with sugar, and cooked down for 30 mins until softened. On tasting I added some dried chilli and coarse ground pepper, and adjusted the sweetness.
And this is the result. Three jars of pickle for the store-cupboard.
I did have a small taste, and (I must admit) it didn't taste particularly 'special', but it'll make a good addition to our other pickles and chutneys. It'll be good with cold meats and cheese; but, then, all pickles are!
The reason for the red-ish colour is because I only had red wine vinegar in the house. I imagine it should really have been GREEN.
And had I named it, it would have been called Green Tomato Chutney; not Pickle.
