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Tomato Chutney

A sweet and spicy tomato chutney with apples, raisins, and lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine the tomatoes, vinegar, salt, onion, ground white pepper, and cayenne pepper.

  2. Boil the mixture together, then press it through a sieve.

  3. Add the sliced apples, stoned raisins, sugar, and lemon juice.

  4. Boil until the raisins are tender.

  5. Once cooled, transfer the chutney into small jars.

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

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

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

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the bulk of the chutney and provide its main body and flavour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the chutney its sharp, tangy character.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the vinegar and acidity.
Apples
Add body and pectin that help the chutney thicken as it cooks.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness as they soften in the boil.

The step that matters

Boil until the raisins are tender. The chutney needs enough cooking for the raisins and apples to soften fully and the mixture to thicken. Stopping too early leaves a thin, uneven texture and firm pieces of fruit.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, vinegar, onion, pepper, apple, raisin, 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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