A warm reminder.

green tomatoes chutney

I am always very sad when the time comes to remove the last plants from my vegetable  garden : tomatoes, peppers and chilies, all planted during the spring. The plants are now dry and sad, with only their last fruits. In shock from the cold, not really able to fully mature,  these stoic fruits remain there until the end. Sad, is it not?  Even sadder , if like me, wearing  green plastic  boots, you have to walk in the mud and under the cold rain , uprooting plants and removing the sticks used to support  the tomatoes .  Any way…. after 1 hour and a half I had finished  and walked away with a large bag of green and semi ripe tomatoes ,plus a few peppers!!
 So, here it is, the last recipe  from my garden, a mixture of survivor tomatoes, peppers and hot chilies . In Italian, we call it  Mostarda  ,in English they call it Chutney. Great with cheese and cold meats, but always a warm reminder of my garden in spring time .                    

2 kg of green or semi ripe tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, chopped
8 chilies cut
2 peppers cut
500 grams of chopped onions
250 grams of brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
200 ml of balsamic vinegar
150 ml of apple cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar)

How it work:

Chop all vegetables and place into a large pan. Add both vinegar’s , brown sugar and salt. Place on a stove and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and stirring frequently making sure it doesn’t burn or stick. After about an hour and a half you should have a thick consistency. Place mixture whilst still hot into warm sterilized jars. Close lid and store in a dark space.