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Tomato Chutney

A sweet and spicy tomato chutney made with tomatoes, corn syrup, cloves, onions, cinnamon, green peppers, vinegar, and apple.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel the tomatoes and soak them for 30 minutes.

  2. Mince the green peppers; do not soak them.

Cook

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a pot.

  2. Cook the mixture until it is thick and clear.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ripe tomatoes
Provide the main body and moisture that cook down into the chutney.
Corn syrup
Adds sweetness and a glossy, thick texture as the mixture reduces.
Onions
Add savory bulk and body that softens and blends into the chutney.
Vinegar
Supplies acidity that balances sweetness and helps preserve the chutney.
Tart apple
Adds tartness and pectin that helps the chutney thicken as it cooks.
Green peppers
Contribute fresh, slightly bitter flavor and texture to the chutney.

The step that matters

Cook until thick and clear. Cooking drives off water and concentrates sugars and acids, so the chutney thickens and sets. Stopping too early leaves it thin and watery, while cooking too long can scorch the sugars and make it sticky or dark.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, corn, syrup, clove, cinnamon, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, corn, syrup, clove, cinnamon, pepper, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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