Green Tomato Chutney is one of those things that you almost hope you don't have to make (apart from that it's delicious). It would be so much nicer to eat all the tomatoes in the red and juicy state that they should be, however the recent wet summers mean that there are often green tomatoes left at the end of the season. This is an ideal way to use them up.
I've never seen green tomatoes for sale anywhere, although I wouldn't be surprised if you could get them at some larger farmers markets. The ones I used were the last stragglers from the greenhouse, there were a few orange and red ones in there as well.

Nigel Slater has written a nice article about green tomatoes, which includes another recipe.

This recipe is taken from the "Good Housekeeping" Cookery Book, granny recommended it as the best, and she should know.

See here for the Green Tomato Chutney Recipe in more detail.

Recipe Costs

£0.40 300g cooking apples
£0.16 1 large onion
£0.00 900g  green tomatoes
£0.16 125g sultanas
£0.02 1 1/2 tsp salt
£0.20 125g demerara sugar
£0.35 270ml malt vinegar
£0.05 1 tsp mustard powder
£0.01 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
£0.50 50g fresh ginger
£1.85 Total
£2.05 per kg of chutney  (an eighth of the cost of Rick Stein's Green Tomato Chutney)

The tomatoes are thinly sliced and put in the preserving pan.

Chopped apples, onions, sultanas, sugar and dry spices went in next, I used mustard seeds as I had run out of powder. I only roughly chop the apples, as they will be reduced to a pulp, the onions are chopped a bit finer.

I added 50g of fresh ginger in a muslin bag as well, nothing like a bit of improvisation when chutney making, although interestingly it was the most expensive ingredient and pushed the overall cost up quite a bit. I smash it about a bit with a rolling pin before putting it in the bag, this helps release more of the flavour.

I used the spicy pickling vinegar I'd recently made for pickling onions, this should add some extra depth to the finished chutney.

All the ingredients in the pan and ready to bring to the boil.

After 55 minutes of simmering the bottom of the pan stayed visible after drawing a spoon across it, a sure sign that the chutney has reached the correct consistency.
Remove the muslin bag at this stage.

The chutney was potted into steralised jars and should be ready in a few months.

Recipe Timings

30 mins chopping etc.
55 mins simmering
15 mins potting

I have discovered sloes in our garden hedge, which I am very excited about as I had forgotten I'd planted blackthorn as part of the native hedge mix put in 5 years ago. I shall have to make some sloe gin.

Until a few weeks ago the stretch of hedge was inaccessible, but as part of landscaping the garden to create a lawn I reached it and gave it a well needed trim. Amongst the hawthorn and hazel I found six bushes of the small purple berries, which were confirmed as sloes by a experienced gin maker who happened to be visiting at the time.

I am conscious I maybe picked the sloes a bit early, but I've now sown a lawn in front of the bushes and shouldn't walk on it for several months.

I've done a bit of research into the best way to make sloe gin and it seems to be one of those recipes that varies from region to region and person to person. Is it best to pick after the first frost or has this now changed due to global warming? Do you prick the berries with  a thorn from the bush, a silver fork, or just hit them with a rolling pin? Do you add freeze the berries first, add almond essence,whole almonds or cinnamon?

There are many excellent sites discussing these issues, the most helpful were at:

The Cottage Smallholder

The sloe.biz forums

The recipe I used was adapted from the sloe.biz forums.

See here for the sloe gin recipe in more detail.

Recipe Costs

£1.90 340g sloes (equivalent cost from ebay, mine were free)
£ 7.99 70cl gin (from aldi)
£0.12 130g granulated sugar
£10.01 Total (or £8.11 if you pick the sloes yourself)
£14.03 per litre of sloe gin - 63% the equivalent cost at tesco (£11.58 with picking your own sloes - half the equivalent cost at tesco )

Here are the sloes after I'd frozen them overnight, defrosted them and pricked them all with a needle, they were quite squishy at this stage so some got squashed.

I used a wide necked 2 litre kilner jar, the same as used for rhubarb schnapps, this makes it very easy to get the ingredients in and mixed up. Advice on how much sugar varies, but several sources recommend tasting the gin after a few months and adding more sugar if necessary.

I used 70cl of Aldi's best quality gin, which I'm sure won't be enough when it come to Christmas, but I'd picked all the berries from my young bushes. I shall have to go out and see if I can find any larger bushes nearby.

Here's the colour of the mixture after 12 hours, already showing the characteristic deep purple starting to develop. I've put the jar on the kitchen windowsill and will shake it every time I do the washing up, once the sugar is dissolved it will go under the stairs until Christmas.

Recipe Timings

20 mins preparation
5 mins mixing
2 - 3 months waiting

Taste Test

Marvellous, just right for sipping in front of the fire after a winter walk. The colour after 3 months is incredibly deep which adds a festive feel. I wouldn't change the amount of sugar used, although of course this may vary with how tart the berries were to begin with.

Blackberry and apple jam is probably the favorite jam in this household, I'm in trouble if a batch doesn't get made every year. Not that it's a chore, as picking blackberries is a totally pleasurable way to pass the time, and making the glossy deep coloured jam one of the best things to do with the fruit.

We planted several blackberry canes in our boundary hedge, at the same time as the hedging plants. They are a thornless variety, which is a great idea, although not so if you plant them in a predominantly hawthorn hedge.  I try and use about half of this variety and half from the local hedgerows, the difference in size, flavour and texture between even just the canes round our local lanes is quite noticeable. Rather than go down the single variety route I feel this is one case where a blend of berries works well, adding interest to the finished jam. Anyway, I could never get enough of one variety to make it worth while.

The best place locally to pick blackberries in round the edge of the village cricket pitch, the same place that provides elderflowers, the apples came from my in laws back garden.

I use a trusted recipe from the "Good Housekeeping" Cookery Book

See here for the blackberry and apple jam recipe.

Recipe Costs

£5.89 1.8kg blackberries (this is a PYO cost, tesco would set you back £23.89, mine were free)
£0.94 700g cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced (equivalent cost, mine were free)
£2.51 2.7kg sugar
£0.20 knob of butter
£9.54 Total (£2.71 without buying the fruit)
£2.12 per kg jam (25% of the cost of similar jam at ocado), £0.60 without buying the fruit (7% of the cost of similar jam at ocado)

Peeled and chopped Bramley apples.

Adding sugar to the mashed apples partially cooked blackberries, the white and rich purple is an amazing contrast of colours.

After adding sugar before boiling for ten minutes, a knob of butter is added at this stage which makes the jam more glossy in appearance.

After boiling for ten minutes the apple has broken down and the jam thickened.

Potting in steralised jars with greaseproof paper discs to stop any mould developing. I usually steralise the jars by washing them well, then without touching the insides heating them to about 100 degrees centigrade in the oven, I let them cool a bit before adding the jam. I soak the lids in boiling water for 10 minutes and then shake them dry, again without touching the insides.

The finished jam is a delicious colour and thankfully ready to eat straight away, best on toast at any time of the day.

Recipe Timings

15 mins preparation
30 mins cooking
15 mins potting

Taste Test

Can't beat it really, tastes great. We have a variety of small hard blackberries in the hedges near us that survive the cooking and add a bit of texture.

Having a small boy in the house we regularly resort to rewarding good behavior  to get through trips to the supermarket, car journeys etc. (bribery). We've managed to train him to be pleased with an apple at the end of the supermarket shop (it has to be of the bright red variety), but when shopping in the town centre he's caught on to the fruit snacks sold in the local health food shop.

These are also a favorite on long car journeys, although feeding a small child with an energy giving fruit bar when you want them to sit still is probably a mistake. I'm all for supporting the local shop, but at 57p a time I'd rather find an alternative.
So I was very happy to find a recipe for fruit leather in the wonderful River Cottage Handbook No.2: Preserves by Pam Corbin. 

The recipe can be applied to any combination of fruits, and even suggests using tomatoes for a savory snack. The process is very simple, but does tie up the oven for a long time, I had to stop half way through to use the grill and then returned the drying fruit once the oven had cooled down again, I can't see this is a problem.

This recipe is taken from the River Cottage Handbook No.2: Preserves.

See here for the apple and plum leather recipe.

Recipe Costs
£1.34 1kg cooking apples (peel, chopped and cored) (equivalent cost, mine was free)
£1.58 1kg plums (stones removed) (equivalent cost, mine was free)
£0.60 Juice of 2 lemons
£ 1.98 300g honey
£5.50 Total (£2.58 without buying the fruit)
£22 per kg of leather (£10.32 without buying the fruit- about half the cost of the equivalent)

We  still have plenty of cooking apples around, and I dug a tub of stewed plums out of the freezer, these had been in there 2 years so needed using up!

The fruit was stewed and the forced through a sieve creating a smooth puree

In went a whole jar of honey, I'm not sure if this is essential for the consistency of the finished product, or just for sweetness. It would be good to know as it does seem like a lot.

The puree was spread out on greaseproof paper, my ever useful Silicone  Spatula was perfect for this, I'd also used it for pushing the fruit through the sieve earlier.

The recipe implied that after a certain period of drying in the oven the leather would peel off the paper, I couldn't get it to do this even after 24 hours, resorted to loosening it with a quick dip in a bowl of water. I had to re-dry the leather in the oven for a short while after doing this.

The resulting leather is amazing to play with, strong, flexible sheets  which you can roll up and cut with scissors. The small boy turned his nose up at them, probably because it didn't come in a bright wrapper, but I'll persevere. I've been enjoying eating strips as a mid afternoon snack and have also chopped up some small bits to add interest to the morning musili.

Recipe Timings
15 mins preparation
30 mins simmering
15 mins pureeing and spreading
24 hours cooking

Taste Test

Not as sweet as the commercial variety, although this is probably down to the amount of plums used in the recipe. The texture is lovely and chewy.