Your Unripe Tomatoes Are Perfect For Starring In This Sweet And Savory Condiment

During the height of tomato season, you'll find home gardeners working hard to deal with an overabundance of produce, batch-cooking pasta sauces and tomato soup to freeze for use throughout the year. But what can be a little tricker is what to do with the glut of unripe tomatoes you might find yourself with at the end of the season. Whipping up a dish of fried green tomatoes is a classic way to deal with this, but the problem is that they still need to be made with fresh produce and it might make only a small dent in your supply.

If you want to give yourself a bit of a break from tomato dishes and make something you can eat all year, then preserving is the way to go, and a green tomato chutney could be just what you're looking for. The firmness of unripe tomatoes holds up well to cooking so that your chutney will have plenty of texture, rather than breaking down to a smooth jam. The acidity of green tomatoes also prevents the chutney from being too sweet and instead creates a sweet and savory condiment that will pair with a good range of dishes. You can adjust the sweetness, tartness, spiciness, and texture of the chutney according to any extra ingredients you add and how long you choose to cook it. 

There's no single recipe for tomato chutney, and that's what makes it so versatile. At its most basic, a Western-style chutney is fruit cooked down with sugar, vinegar, and spices, but that leaves so much room for customizing. Warm spices such as cinnamon, allspice, or mustard seeds are a popular choice, but if you want a bit of a kick, try fresh ginger or chiles. For extra texture, onions or apples are common add-ins, with the latter providing additional sweetness (some recipes include raisins for this). If you're still swimming in ripe tomatoes, you can also make a mixed chutney that combines sweet ripe fruit with crispy, bright green ones.

Serving suggestions for chutney are also more versatile than you might think. As a condiment, it's a fresh topping for your burger or hotdog or served alongside a seared pork chop. It's also an easy and piquant addition to a cheese board. Mix it with sour cream and you've created a tangy dipping sauce for chicken wings or other fried treats.

If you plan to use your chutney in the next 1-2 months, simply transfer it to any clean jar once it's cooled and refrigerate. For long-term storage, you'll need airtight preserving jars, like Ball's mason jars, which should be sterilized before you fill them. This will allow you to keep your chutney for up to 18 months without the need for refrigeration until they're opened.