Tomatoes on the market tuesday from 10 stinkies a kilo was it really worth growing our own?
All the tomatoes on the market and around town at peoples gates and stalls are so cheap this year. I haven't seen them this cheap in the ten years we have been here it is a bumper crop must be the little ra :Sunny:in and the sunshine

Having trouble keeping up with the toms the neighbour planted in our garden. Been picking a bucket full every other day, two on Monday. We have plenty of bottles full in the cellar now, in chunks, sauce, chutney and passata, more in the freezer, and we've only just started! Mr Eq says we can't waste them, so soldier on. Masses of peppers, aubergines and okra too.

One of the tomatoes the other day weighed 1lb 8oz, but generally the big ones are around 1lb3oz. A meal on their own.

Oh yes they are fantastic and a good meal providing you are not artheritic as they will cause a flare up and cause pain to those who suffer with artheritis Keep on bottling enjoy

And the sweetcorn on the cob, from as little as 20 Stonks each, they are the biggest and tastiest i've had, everything infact is so abundant.

Equinus wrote:

Having trouble keeping up with the toms the neighbour planted in our garden. Been picking a bucket full every other day, two on Monday. We have plenty of bottles full in the cellar now, in chunks, sauce, chutney and passata, more in the freezer, and we've only just started! Mr Eq says we can't waste them, so soldier on. Masses of peppers, aubergines and okra too.

One of the tomatoes the other day weighed 1lb 8oz, but generally the big ones are around 1lb3oz. A meal on their own.

We have them growing like mad as well, spent an hour cleaning jars in readiness for bottling and making soup, talk about "
The Good Life"
- our veg plot is taking our lives over.

If you are making sauce and chutney Mrs Eq, perhaps you will be kind enough to give us your recipe.

Even in the height of summer I make cold tomato soup to eat, to use up the glut of tomatoes on offer. Something like a chilled Gazpacho is perfect on summer days and gives a fantastic taste.

Here's my version...

Ingredients:
3lb tomatoes peeled and roughly chopped*
2 cucumbers peeled and roughly chopped*
1 red onion roughly chopped
4-6 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 green peppers
2 slices bread
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons virgin olive oil

* take the seeds out if you can be bothered

Method:
Bring a pan of boiling water to the boil. Switch off. Throw tomatoes in for a minute then remove. This makes it easier to skin them.

Soak the bread in a few spoons of water and squeeze to remove excess.

Throw tomatoes, cucumber, onion, garlic, pepper and bread into a blender and blend until smooth (you may have to do this in 'batches' as it's a lot of ingredients).

Once blended pour into a bowl, stir in vinegar and oil and shove in fridge for two hours.

itchyfeet wrote:

Equinus wrote:

Having trouble keeping up with the toms the neighbour planted in our garden. Been picking a bucket full every other day, two on Monday. We have plenty of bottles full in the cellar now, in chunks, sauce, chutney and passata, more in the freezer, and we've only just started! Mr Eq says we can't waste them, so soldier on. Masses of peppers, aubergines and okra too.

One of the tomatoes the other day weighed 1lb 8oz, but generally the big ones are around 1lb3oz. A meal on their own.

We have them growing like mad as well, spent an hour cleaning jars in readiness for bottling and making soup, talk about "
The Good Life"
- our veg plot is taking our lives over.

If you are making sauce and chutney Mrs Eq, perhaps you will be kind enough to give us your recipe.

Depends what there is to put in sauce, sometimes just tomatoes, other times aubergines, peppers, onion and garlic as well. I don't use recipes, but all sauce needs to be put into sterilised jars and sealed and boiled up to make sure it is vacuumed and sterile. I learned all I need to know from the internet, I have never bottled before. It is easier to freeze sauce, but having no microwave I find it a nuisance when I forget to get it out.

My tried and trusted chutney recipes are all high in onion and garlic, as that is to my taste, so no good for you. With chutney other than these, I decide what veg I have then google for a recipe, same with vegetable based cakes. It's amazing what you can find to suit your basket of goodies.

Equinus wrote:

itchyfeet wrote:

Equinus wrote:

Having trouble keeping up with the toms the neighbour planted in our garden. Been picking a bucket full every other day, two on Monday. We have plenty of bottles full in the cellar now, in chunks, sauce, chutney and passata, more in the freezer, and we've only just started! Mr Eq says we can't waste them, so soldier on. Masses of peppers, aubergines and okra too.

One of the tomatoes the other day weighed 1lb 8oz, but generally the big ones are around 1lb3oz. A meal on their own.

We have them growing like mad as well, spent an hour cleaning jars in readiness for bottling and making soup, talk about "
The Good Life"
- our veg plot is taking our lives over.

If you are making sauce and chutney Mrs Eq, perhaps you will be kind enough to give us your recipe.

Depends what there is to put in sauce, sometimes just tomatoes, other times aubergines, peppers, onion and garlic as well. I don't use recipes, but all sauce needs to be put into sterilised jars and sealed and boiled up to make sure it is vacuumed and sterile. I learned all I need to know from the internet, I have never bottled before. It is easier to freeze sauce, but having no microwave I find it a nuisance when I forget to get it out.

My tried and trusted chutney recipes are all high in onion and garlic, as that is to my taste, so no good for you. With chutney other than these, I decide what veg I have then google for a recipe, same with vegetable based cakes. It's amazing what you can find to suit your basket of goodies.

It would be nice to know your tried and tested chutney recipe minus the onions, because as you know I am allergic to the things. I am sure it will taste equally as good without the hand grenades in the mix!!

Waiting in anticipation!!!!!!!! The jars are ready, the oven is ready, I am ready and annette is ready!!

The recipe for sweet tomato chutney calls for 6 lb each of skinned tomatoes, onions and apple, all chopped fairly fine, 1.5 pints of vinegar and 4 lb sugar. Boiled till thick, Simple. If you took that amount of onion out it would be totally different, even if you used double tomatoes. It would alter taste and texture.

Mum's hot tomato chutney has no onion, but is more complicated as it also makes a sauce. I have altered it to use fresh garlic and ginger, and some chilli flakes in place of some of the powder, also used some of the apricots I dried instead of raisins, but this is the original recipe.

7 lb skinned and chopped tomatoes
1.5 pints vinegar
2 lb raisins
4oz dried garlic powder or granules
4oz powdered ginger
1oz hot chilli powder
2 lb sugar.

Boil it all up till thick ish, about an hour. Strain any liquid off and bottle the pulp. The liquid you have strained off goes back on the heat, with half a cup of vinegar and quarter cup of sugar per pint of liquid, boiled for five minutes, or longer if you want it thicker, makes a good dipping sauce. You could add more chilli at this stage if you like a really hot sauce, but taste it first. Leave for a couple of months before using or it tastes a bit 'raw'.

Many thanks Mrs Eq - busy today checking the water well. Yesterday "
the pipe ran dry"
, on further inspection the well water level had dropped and so I have to make some adjustments to the depth of the pump, the depth of the hosepipe that is attached to it and the depth of the electrical cable going to ther pump. This farm business is all go, never a moments peace between painting and filling things and overseeing the veg garden.

Made our years supply of tomato Puree today.

Equinus wrote:

The recipe for sweet tomato chutney calls for 6 lb each of skinned tomatoes, onions and apple, all chopped fairly fine, 1.5 pints of vinegar and 4 lb sugar

That recipe is just about to identical to my version!

Like you, I replace the dried garlic with 4 cloves of fresh (finely minced), chilli powder for 2 fresh red chillis with seeds removed and finely sliced and the powdered ginger for a piece of fresh ginger, finely grated. I also use brown sugar rather than white.

Chris wrote:

Equinus wrote:

The recipe for sweet tomato chutney calls for 6 lb each of skinned tomatoes, onions and apple, all chopped fairly fine, 1.5 pints of vinegar and 4 lb sugar

That recipe is just about to identical to my version!

Like you, I replace the dried garlic with 4 cloves of fresh (finely minced), chilli powder for 2 fresh red chillis with seeds removed and finely sliced and the powdered ginger for a piece of fresh ginger, finely grated. I also use brown sugar rather than white.

Many thanks for your recipes Chris - the next few weeks will see us bumbling around and attempting to copy your recipes, we are not used to this "
Darling Buds"
thing, but practice makes perfect, sorry purfick!! My Catherine Zeeta is cleaning the ceiling fan in the kitchen while I paint a door upstairs, action packed day as usual.

I was given loads of tomatoes to bring back to the u k, I tried to explain I wouldn't be able to take them on the plane but they still give me them, I gave them to an old couple who was routing in a bin for plastic bottle's , wish I could of brought them back Bulgarian tomatoes are the best ive ever tasted.

Our English neighbours had the same thing happen to them. She had to go back for medical treatment and would be gone a month, so our lovely neighbour went round with three carriers full of food from garden and store to take with them (this was April) Bless 'em.