You can only eat fried green tomatoes so many times before that best of unripened delicacies starts to wear on the nerves and the stomach lining. Here, courtesy of urban gardener and farmer’s market maven Zoe Plaugher, is a sticky, brown, vinegary, sweet, spicy and tart chutney that will put those last premature tomatoes to excellent use. The result is reminiscent of a more complex tamarind chutney and it goes great with latkes, roast meats or couscous. Green Tomato Chutney

Approx 3lbs of green tomatoes ~ 5-6 cups, cored and chopped

2/3 c water

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2 c sliced shallots

½ c minced ginger

1 c dried cherries (tart or extra tart are best, but use sweet if that’s what you have)

2 c cider vinegar (more if needed)

1 c honey (may be adjusted depending on sweetness of cherries)

1-2 jalapenos, cherry bombs or any other medium-hot pepper. Adjust up or down to your liking.

Core and chop green tomatoes. Put in big pot w/ a little water so they can begin cooking down. While they are cooking, slice shallots, dice ginger. The shallots are pretty painstaking, but are tastier in this than onions. Ginger should be peeled and minced fine.

Add shallots and ginger to the pot, with 1.5 of vinegar and ½ c honey. Continue cooking for 30 minutes, stir frequently to avoid sticking and burning. While the tomatoes stew, dice and core the hot pepper. Remove some of the seeds or all if you don’t like things spicy.

At this point, everything should be well cooked down. Taste! If vinegar is not steaming up from the pot and tickling the back of your throat, then add the rest. If the chutney is overly sour, add the rest of the honey.

Add hot peppers and cherries and continue to cook, until they are soft and begin to melt into the rest of the chutney. At this point, you might notice some tomato skins begin to peak up. I like to pick them out of the pot, but I don’t recommend this if you’re afraid of burning your fingers. It’s not necessary.

Pour into sterilized mason jars and process in a boiling water bath for 20 min.

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