Homemade tomato conserve

Often we buy fresh tomatoes and never get round to use all of the pack and it start to go off in the fridge. When my tomatoes start to go off, I either make a soup or my conserve of tomatoes that I use in many ways.

You will find in the post how I make my conserve and in the next ones you will see how I sue the conserve that can last up to a month.

To make the conserve you will need the following:

 6 medium tomatoes
2 medium red onions
10 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of salt
Olive oil
Fresh thyme – 3 twigs

Method:

1 - Start by Peeling and chopping the garlic and onions. Rinse the fresh tomatoes and cut off any rotten bits, then chop the tomatoes and set aside. It is preferable to keep all the elements separated as you will incorporate them separately.

2 - In a sauce pan, heat 5 table spoons of olive oil, then fry the onions and thyme for 2 minutes. Now add the fresh tomatoes and the garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Then, add the tinned tomato, salt and pepper. Mix well and cover to simmer for another 5 minutes. Stir and do not let the sauce stick to the bottom of the pan. Stir until there is no more moisture in the pan. All you should see in the bottom of the pan is the paste and oil.

Letting all moisture evaporate will mean that the conserve /chutney lasts longer. So you must make sure that all you hear from the pan frying noises.

 

3 - Remove the pan from the stove and leave to cool before putting the conserve in a dry glass jar with lid. Again, make sure that the jar and it lid have not a sign of moisture inside.

Once the tomato is in the jar cover it with 2 o 3 more table spoons of olive oil.

With the ingredients above you can produce up to 600 grams of tomato chutney. I splited mine and blended a half and kept the other half in chunks and in separated jars.

Note: Oil is a great conservateur and will protect whatever you cover with it from moulding.

You can then also use the oil covering the tomato to flavour some of your salads or roasts.
Whenever you want to use your conserve, make sure you only use clean and dry spoons. This way, you will not insert moisture or bacteria in your jar and will be able to keep it for at least 21 days.

Check out next week’s post to see how to use the conserve in quick and easy vegan dishes.

Ciao!