In the month of June in cooling Tasmania, tomato plants should not be growing and flowering but so many of my cherry tomatoes were.

From experience, I remember this has always happened and I have let them continue to flourish until I could pick the reddening fruit. As time passed, and the daily sun held less warmth, the flavour lessened. This year I decided to act differently. I pulled out the two types of plants from many locations across my garden; a small cherry and a larger cherry tomato. Don’t ask me for their names. These are self-seeded plants perhaps derived from previous years or perhaps started from bird droppings from tomatoes grown by neighbours.

Those that were beginning to change colour are sitting in the sun to ripen.

In a refusal to waste the excess of green tomatoes, I set about halving them before loading into a pot.  Very pretty.

Slowly the stove top temperature was raised until these fruits were stewing in their own juice.  In a separate pan I cooked a mix of red onion, garlic, a home grown Granny Smith and a Pink Lady apple, a handful of chopped dates with a little vegetable stock, and salt.

When I poured the cooked concoction into the green tomatoes I added a splash of apple cider vinegar. Into that a couple of small teaspoons of leatherwood honey were stirred.

The result is delicious. Three labelled sealed jars are now stored in the pantry. I used the remainder as a sauce for a red lentil pasta dish; one mixed liberally with home grown flat parsley and drizzled with tasty flaxseed oil.  A meal full of health giving nutrients.