Making the Most of the Late-Summer Glut

By the middle of August, most greenhouse growers have reached the point of mild panic. The trusses are heavy, the windowsills are crowded with ripening fruit, and there is only so much salad a household can reasonably eat. This is the moment to stop thinking about tomatoes as a salad ingredient and start treating them as a store cupboard project. A few hours of work now will fill your shelves and freezer with passata, roasted sauce and chutney that will taste of sunshine in the depths of January.

Start by sorting your crop. Any fruit that is fully coloured and slightly soft is ideal for cooking, and split or bruised tomatoes should be used first rather than thrown away. Bring in any that are still blushing before the first cold nights and blight risk rises, then let them ripen in a single layer on trays lined with newspaper. Firm, perfect specimens can stay for eating raw; everything else is fair game.

The Simplest Passata

Passata is little more than sieved, cooked tomato, and it is the most useful thing you can make. You do not need to skin the fruit if you are going to pass it through a sieve or a mouli. Roughly chop 1.5kg of ripe tomatoes, put them in a heavy pan with a splash of water, and simmer gently for 20 to 25 minutes until they have collapsed completely and the kitchen smells extraordinary. Push the lot through a fine sieve or food mill, discarding the skins and seeds left behind.

Return the purée to a clean pan and reduce it over a low heat until it coats the back of a spoon. Season with a little salt and a pinch of sugar if the flavour needs lifting. Cool it quickly, then freeze in 250ml portions in bags laid flat, which stack neatly and defrost in minutes. Kept in the fridge, it will last about a week; freeze it and it will see you through six months.

Oven-Roasted Sauce for the Freezer

Roasting concentrates sweetness and gives you a sauce with a deep, almost caramelised edge. Halve 1kg of tomatoes and lay them cut side up on a large baking tray. Tuck in a sliced red onion, three or four unpeeled garlic cloves, a few sprigs of thyme or the torn stalks of basil, and a good glug of olive oil. Season generously with salt and black pepper.

Roast at 180°C fan (200°C conventional) for 40 to 50 minutes, until the edges have caught and darkened and the onions are soft. Let everything cool a little, then squeeze the garlic from its skins and either blitz the lot or crush it roughly with a potato masher for a more rustic texture. This is the sauce to spoon over pasta on a dark evening, spread on pizza bases, or stir through a slow-cooked ragu. Freeze it in flattened bags or small tubs.

Spiced Tomato Chutney

Chutney is where the true gluts go to be transformed. The vinegar and sugar do the preserving, so do not be tempted to reduce them for health reasons; they are structural, not decorative. Chop 1.5kg of tomatoes and 500g of onions and put them in a large, heavy preserving pan with 400ml of cider or malt vinegar, 250g of light muscovado sugar, 200g of sultanas and one large cooking apple, peeled and diced.

Add the spices: a tablespoon of mustard seeds, a teaspoon each of ground ginger and allspice, half a teaspoon of cayenne, a couple of bay leaves and a good pinch of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer and stir often, particularly towards the end, to stop it catching. It will need an hour or more, until the mixture is thick and glossy and a wooden spoon drawn through leaves a clean channel that does not immediately flood. Pot into sterilised jars while hot.

Jars, Storage and a Little Patience

• To sterilise jars: wash them thoroughly, then place them upside down in an oven at 140°C for 20 minutes. Fill while still warm.
• Sealing: use vinegar-proof lids, as the acid will corrode plain metal over time. Any lid with a plastic coating inside is fine.
• Maturing: leave chutney for four to six weeks before opening. It will be sharp and vinegary at first and mellow into something far better by November.
• Keeping: unopened chutney will hold for a year in a cool, dark cupboard. Once opened, refrigerate and use within a month.

Label everything with the date and the contents, even if you are certain you will remember. You will not.

Small Tweaks That Make a Difference

Once you are confident with the basic recipes, the variations are where the pleasure lies. A tablespoon of fennel seed or a star anise in the chutney adds a warm, aromatic note that suits cold meats and strong cheese. A dried chilli or two in the roasted sauce gives it a gentle background heat. If you have a glut of green tomatoes at the end of September, use them in the chutney in place of half the ripe fruit; the result is sharper and firmer and particularly good with a ploughman's lunch.

However you preserve them, the principle is the same: capture the flavour of a good summer at its peak and put it by for the leaner months. A shelf of jewel-coloured jars and a freezer full of sauce is one of the quietest and most satisfying rewards of a British kitchen garden.