WE’VE REACHED THE time of the year when I unexpectedly realise that the tomato crop is not limitless after all.There’s still a
good month or so left to enjoy them( we’ve had actually great years where we have actually been consuming fresh toms till mid November ), however there’s that certain sense that it’s past its peak now. That means I am getting a little choosier about what to do with them.Tomatoes are a vegetable that can be preserved in many methods– they can be naturally kept (laid carefully in a drawer for instance), frozen or dried; they can be utilized in jams, jellies, enjoys and chutneys. They can be made in to sauces (useful for the freezer for later use in pastas and pizzas), and also bottled and preserved in oil.So, there’s no reason really to let tomatoes go to lose, even if you have vast excess of them. If we are really time-pressed, we simply halve them, lay in a baking tray, sprinkle some oil and chopped garlic on top and season well– bake in an oven for about an hour and then press through a sieve and you have a scrumptious roast tomato sauce.Alternatively, by cooking
them extremely gradually (about 5-8 hours) upside down on a wire rack over a baking tray in an extremely low oven you get’sundried’ tomatoes– these are particularly good if you have some rather bland tom ranges as it actually draws out the best in them. These can then be saved in airtight containers in the fridge or in a container of oil.I need to confess, that I discover it tough to justify turning excellent, and increasingly unusual toms in to a sauce( no matter how tasty it is)at this time of the year. I was skeptical about the idea of using a valuable kilo of them to make a tomato ketchup– I indicate, ketchup is catsup isn’t it? Well, really no it’s not. We used the dish overleaf to make our very first ever batch of home-grown, home-made ketchup and it’s been a revelation to the point that I’ve prohibited with word’catsup ‘for worry of making it seem more common than it is– eventually this is the most exceptional dipping sauce for your chips that you will ever taste!Things to do today– Keep checking brassicas Caterpillars are still a massive pest at this time of the year– check brassicas like brussels sprouts
, cabbages, purple sprouting broccoli and kohlrabi regularly and get rid of any eggs or caterpillars that you find. Left unchecked they can quickly destroy a brassica plant. Ensure that if you have netting over the plants, that you keep it raised up off the leaves. The cabbage white butterfly lays eggs on the leaves merely by landing for a split second on the plant– if it can come in contact with the leaf of the plant at all, it has the chance to do so.Recipe of the Week– Tomato Ketchup I adapted this dish from the tomato ketchup recipe in’ The Preserving Book’ by Lynda Brown. It’s really straightforward, and makes 2-3 small containers which will keep for 3 months.Ingredients:1 kg ripe toms, roughly sliced 1 carrot, sliced 1 little onion, sliced 1 celery
stick, sliced good pinch ground cloves 1 big bay leaf 2 mace blades or teaspoon ground mace 1 tsp sea salt 1 tsp black peppercorns 1 tsp entire allspice 150ml red wine vinegar 60g light soft brown sugar Instructions:
Put all the active ingredients other than the
sugar in a big stainless steel saucepan. Bring to
the boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes then get rid of the lid and cook for another 15 minutes, stirring sometimes. Discard the mace and bay leaves and puree
the liquid in a blender
— then rub through a sieve, back in to the rinsed-out pan
. Stir in the sugar
, bring back to the boil, and boil stirring all the time, for 5 minutes to enable the sauce develop a thick cream-like consistency. Gather to warm, sterilsed kilner or screw-top jars. Cool, seal and label, and store in a cool, dark location. As soon as opened, keep in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks.Tip of the Week– Maturing Green Tomatoes An excellent way to ripen green toms is to place them in a tray and put them in a drawer– beside them put a couple of ripe apples which will produce the ripening gas ethylene which will assist them ripen. Ripe tomatoes will keep in the fridge for about a week in a polythene bag.Michael Kelly is a freelance reporter, author and founder of GIY Ireland. ©
GIY Ireland
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