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Tomato Chutney

A tomato chutney made with tomatoes, apples, onions, peppers, raisins, salt, brown sugar, ginger, and cider vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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

Prepare

  1. Chop the tomatoes and sprinkle ½ cup coarse sea salt over them.

  2. Let them drain for 24 hours.

Cook

  1. After draining, add the chopped apples, onions, and red peppers.

  2. In a spice bag, combine the ginger and add it to the mixture along with the brown sugar.

  3. Cover everything with cider vinegar and simmer for 4 hours.

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

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

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

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

  4. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

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

  5. Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 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
Form the bulk of the chutney and release moisture that cooks down into it.
Apples
Add body and natural pectin that help the chutney thicken as it cooks.
Onions
Contribute savory depth and soft texture as they break down during simmering.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps create a thick, glossy texture.
Cider vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the chutney.

The step that matters

Simmer for 4 hours. Long, gentle simmering lets water evaporate so the chutney thickens and the flavors meld. Too vigorous a boil or too little stirring can scorch the sugars on the bottom of the pot and leave a bitter taste.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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