Green tomatoes have never crossed my kitchen bench before and to be honest, I naively presumed they were a different variety of tomato, not just an under ripe one. (I can feel your eye roll from here). 

During the weekend just gone I enjoyed a splendid weekend in Tasmania by the sea with my great mate Kate Dixon. It was COLD. We rugged up and walked along the windy beach, sat by the fire, drank delicious Tassie Pinot, solved (almost) every problem of the world and of course, we ate. On the menu, was deliciously nourishing and grounding kitchari (topped with this chutney, yoghurt and kimchi), spicy porridge, scrumptious salads and oh my goodness the most delicious crunchy potatoes.

The highlight however was the picky lunches - cheeses, pates, olives, kimchi, freshly baked sourdough.. and of course a delectable green tomato chutney. 

Back in Melbourne, I've decided it's time to get my cooking mojo back. So it is that I found myself with Kate's beautiful recipe (you'll find more of her essential oil inspired deliciousness here), some green tomatoes, my culinary doTERRA essential oils and voila - chutney fit for Kings and Queens. I hope you love it as much as I do. Rest assured it requires little skill nor effort.

Makes apprx 3 jars!

1kg green tomatoes, quartered and chopped small
1 brown onion, diced
1 green apple, roughly chopped
2 long red chillies, diced
200 grams apple cider vinegar
200 grams coconut sugar
50 grams sultanas
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
6 drops doTERRA ginger oil*
2 drops doTERRA black pepper oil*
2 drops doTERRA coriander seed oil*
2 drops doTERRA sweet fennel oil*

If you prefer a less chunky chutney, chop your pieces small. Throw all of your ingredients except the essential oils into a heavy based saucepan and bring to a simmer, lid off, stirring occasionally for an hour.

Now stir in your essential oils (always dropping onto a spoon, not into your dish!) and leave to simmer gently for another 15 minutes or until your chutney is jammy. I ended up leaving mine on the heat for 1.5 hours total.

Remove from the heat, allow to cool and store in sterilised glass jars. 

* Essential oils can of course be replaced by your fresh or dried equivalent though I've not tested the recipe without as yet so you may need to ad lib! 

Some notes on cooking with essential oils:

• When we use pure essential oils for cooking we often do so simply for flavouring use. If you are looking to maintain the benefits of the essential oil it is generally better to add the oils to your food post cooking. However, when slow cooking something such as chutney I feel it better to add them much earlier so that the flavours can assimilate. 
• I recommend using 100% pure essential oils such as doTERRA. Many brands are not pure and are not fit for consumption. You can purchase doTERRA oils via me at wholesale price. 
• Less is always more! 1 drop too many can ruin a dish! Always drop the oils onto a spoon first so you can't go wrong!  

If you'd love to book in a time to learn where to start on your essential oils journey, or simply to set up a wholesale account to receive 25% some of the most potent and pure essential oils on the market, simply shoot me an email and let's organise a chat amy@theholisticingredient.com