Traditional New England Tomato Chutney Recipe #tigresscanjam

Whatever will we all do in the kitchen when the Can Jam's finished? This month's edition – tomatoes – was announced by Julia of What Julia Ate, one of my favourite jam-and-pickle bloggers, whom I had a chance to meet earlier this summer when I was down in the Hudson Valley neighbourhood for (by chance) a food preserving workshop.

Now, we all love tomatoes, but the ones in my garden aren't quite ready for cooking yet, and I didn't feel like doing a green-tomato recipe. The problem was solved when the remarkable Katie Quinn‐Jacobs gave my one of her old family recipes for the book I'm working on, which mixes tomatoes with a lot of other ingredients. Katie is yet another canning hero, and the founder of IthaCan, a web-based network for people around the Ithaca, New York area who get together to share skills related to food preserving.

I love this recipe because it's so representative of the most basic ingredients that thrive in the northeastern US and southeastern Canada. Katie says: "My grandmother Genevieve Demarais Quinn, who originated from northern Vermont near the Québec border where she met and married my Irish grandfather, made these “pickles” that were more of a chutney. My mother, Joan Rowe Quinn from the Catskill mountain region of New York, made them as well and she passed the recipe down to me."

Here's her complete recipe. I made a half-batch, and it gave me five cups. I went to a barbeque the next day, where the pickles – or relish, or chutney... you choose – were very much enjoyed with devilled eggs. Katie says they can dress up or down, and go well with in leftover turkey sandwiches, with baked fish and, of course, with burgers. I look forward to trying a jar that's had a month or two to mellow.

Gen's Pickles (Chutney)
Makes about 10 cups

• 3 quarts of tomatoes (five pounds)
• 4 green peppers
• 4 medium onions
• 6 medium tart apples
• 2 cups of vinegar
• 3 tsp salt
• 2 tsp mustard seed
• 2 tsp whole cloves
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 1 cup of raisins

Directions

1. Sterilize jars.
2. Meanwhile, peel and core the apples.
3. Chop the tomatoes, green peppers, onions and apples into medium-sized pieces, so the mixture is chunky. Peeling the tomatoes is optional.
4. In a non-reactive pot, combine all ingredients except the raisins and bring to boil.
5. Boil until the liquids have boiled away and the mixture begins to thicken (about 45 minutes).
6. Add raisins and boil 15 minutes longer.
7. Ladle into sterilized jars, seal and process for 10 minutes at a rolling boil (15 minutes for pint/500 mL jars).

Katie also suggests a "Northeast Local‐vore Variation": substitute blueberries for raisins and maple syrup for brown sugar.