Well the harvest continues. Goodness I have to be really honest and say I feel pretty over the whole harvesting and preserving thing.I absolutely love providing for our family from our own garden but boy harvest time is full on. Over the last weeks I have been thinking a lot of our forebears and people on the poverty line. How the harvest is so so important and without storing correctly and keeping as much as humanely possible, they would starve. Quite sobering really. I am so fortunate that I have a choice and do it because I want to (and I cannot bear waste).
So we are onto the Pear tree now. Goodness they take a while to do with all that peeling etc.
I have also been given tomatoes and decided to try to adapt the roast blackboy peach recipe (originally the roast Feijoa from my sister in laws book) into a roast tomato chutney recipe.
So here goes. ( I don't think I will ever make a chutney in a pot again)
Roast tomato chutney
2.25kg ripe tomatoes chopped into 2cm chunks
750g onions finely chopped
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 Tablespoon ground corriander
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (or use ground)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tablespoons each - whole yellow and black mustard seed (optional)
3 Tablespoon salt
400 ml vinegar
500g sugar
Put all into a roasting tray and mix well. Roast for 2-3 hours at 180oC (it took me 2.5) on fan-bake (the fan bake assists the speed of cooking and evaporation of all the liquid). Stir once or twice if you remember. It is ready when it is looking thick and there is still a little bit of liquid in the bottom of the pan when you stir. ( it should have reduced in size by about half).
Spoon into hot sterilised jars ( I had assorted sizes and it filled 7 jars)
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