How Green is "too green" for tomatoes

[newspud9]

Having started off in Spring with seeds, I finally composted 20 tomato plants.  They only started to fruit in August but not one of them turned red.  So with about 40 fruits, all a very pale green - nothing close to red - can they still be used for chutneys or do they really need to have ripened further.

thanks for all the comments

[newspud9]

[Sally A]

I made chutney over the weekend, used green toms, wrinkly green pepper, green chillies, green everything really with white vinegar.  Looks divine (I don't think - but tastes good).

Some of the toms were dried out, ie I cut them in half and they were rock hard with big cavities in the seed area - I discarded these, but if the green toms have juiciness to them, carry on.

Mine has been labelled Snot Pickle (as in S'not Pickle, It's Chutney), other name on the label was going to be The Big Sneeze - Good With Cheese.)

Last year I made an excellent one using excess cucumbers, but as always I flicked over 3 pages at a time so didn't have a hard and fast recipe, but I do know I kept it in the fridge overnight with salted layers of veg to remove excess liquid before boiling up - it was fab, it tasted like gherkin chutney heaven.

In the words of MacArthur Park "I'll never have that recipe again!" :(

[triffid]

Hello Newspud,
As Sally says, as long as they're not rock 'ard, they're perfect for chutney.
And if you're wondering where to find a recipe, can I recommend the one that's bubbling away on my stove right now (mmm, that sweet, spicy smell)    :P :P
Beloved by many A4Aers - it's Supersprout's "black mango" chutney (no mangoes at all, just lots of green toms!)

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,24400.0.html

Sarah always liquidised it to a smooth consistency. I never do - I love it just as it is - full of nice plump raisins and little tomatoey bits. Just scale down the recipe as you need.

Have fun with it -
all the best

Triff

[newspud9]

Great replies. Thanks very much.   Sally A - with unripened tomatoes, and also in the words of MacArthur Park maybe its a case of "all the sweet green icing flowing down"!