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Tomato Chutney

A sweet and tangy chutney made from tomatoes, apples, raisins, ginger, garlic, shallots, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,076 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chutney

  1. Combine tomatoes, apples, salt, brown sugar, raisins, ginger, garlic, shallots, and vinegar in a large pot.

  2. Boil gently for 5 to 6 hours, stirring occasionally.

  3. Press the mixture through a colander to remove solids.

Bottle

  1. Bottle the chutney and seal.

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 + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Ginger + shallottop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together565 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Apple + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,424 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 bulk and body of the chutney as they break down during long cooking.
Apples
Add pectin and body, helping the chutney thicken as it reduces.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and depth, and helps balance the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the chutney and gives it its tang.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens during long simmering.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture as they plump in the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Boil gently for 5 to 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Gentle boiling lets water evaporate slowly so the mixture thickens without scorching. Stirring prevents sugars and solids from sticking and burning on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Cherryfits better
  2. Plumfits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, apple, sugar, ginger, garlic, shallot, 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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