Hoteliers digging in the dirt and cooks looking out for bugs? That probably only exists in Sand in Taufers! Zero kilometre vegetables are not only a pretty good idea, but also quite a lot of manual work. But we are sure: you can taste it! And so we spend quite a lot of time these days in the community field "Taufrisch-Field". Because there is someone who is making life difficult for us: Leptinotarsa decemlineata, or "ten-striped lightfoot", is happily munching its way through our potato plants. The enormous damage the Colorado potato beetle can cause becomes clear when you take a look at the history books. After all, the striped pest has no natural predators in Europe. Not even in the South Tyrolean Ahrntal. Although: Our Sepp can already become an animal. The potatoes belong on the plates of his guests, not in the stomachs of the potato beetle. So we do what has to be done: We get down on our knees, get our hands dirty and collect the creepy-crawlies from our potato plants by hand. Only one is not there: Beatrice! She has something else and just as important to do.
Of striped pests and unripe tomatoes
Beatrice's green tomato chutney
Just like last year, there are still an incredible number of tomatoes hanging on the bushes at the Taufrisch field. The only problem is that many of them are still green. Simply leaving them on and letting them go bad is out of the question for us. So it's a good thing that our Beatrice knows a lot about preserving. We are already looking forward to a good glass of wine, fine cheese and Beatrice's green tomato chutney. If you like, why not give it a try?
Ingredients:
- 1 kg green tomatoes
- 2 red onions of the "Tropea" variety
- 90 g sultanas (if you like them)
- 3 cloves
- 250 g sugar
- 50 g fresh ginger
- 1 red chilli pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons mustard seeds
- 300 ml white wine vinegar
Preparation:
- Dice the tomatoes and onions, peel the ginger and cut into small pieces, chop the chilli pepper.
- Put the sugar and vinegar in a large saucepan, bring to the boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the tomatoes, spices and salt. Stir several times and simmer on low heat for a few minutes.
- When the mixture has thickened and become creamy, turn off the heat.
- Fill the jars with the still boiling chutney to within 2 cm of the rim and close, turn upside down.
