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Tomato Chutney

A sweet and tangy tomato chutney made with tomatoes, ginger, apples, onions, red peppers, cider vinegar, sugar, and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Boil the mixture together for a short time, being careful not to overcook.

  3. Bottle the chutney while hot and seal tightly.

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. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

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

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

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

  5. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 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

Tomatoes
Provide the main body and moisture that the chutney cooks down into.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the chutney its tang and helps preserve it.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity and vinegar.
Onions
Add savoury depth and body as they soften during cooking.
Apples
Add pectin and natural sweetness, helping the chutney thicken.
Red peppers
Contribute sweetness, colour and a soft, pulpy texture when cooked down.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture for a short time only. Overcooking drives off moisture and caramelises the sugar too far, making the chutney dark, sticky and bitter. Stopping when it has just thickened keeps a fresh, bright flavour.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, ginger, apple, pepper, cider, vinegar, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, ginger, apple, pepper, cider, vinegar, sugar. 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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