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Apple and Tomato Chutney

A chutney made from apples, tomatoes, onions, garlic, sugar, salt, cayenne, and vinegar, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Apple and Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the apples, tomatoes, onions, and garlic.

  2. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

Cook

  1. Cover with vinegar and bring to a boil.

  2. Reduce heat and simmer slowly for 5 hours, stirring occasionally.

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. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

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

  4. Garlic + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Apple + tomatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together548 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

Sour apples
Provide tartness and pectin that helps the chutney thicken as it cooks.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that break down into the body of the chutney.
Onions
Add savoury sweetness and bulk as they soften during the long simmer.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and caramel notes and helps preserve the chutney.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens during long cooking.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the chutney.

The step that matters

Slow simmer for 5 hours. Simmering gently while stirring occasionally keeps the mixture from scorching on the bottom of the pot. Slow evaporation over a long period concentrates flavours and thickens the chutney into a spreadable texture.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, sugar, garlic, 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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