Preserve Me: Sweet Pickled Cherry Tomatoes

Yes, yes, I STILL am preserving, and yes, I'm still on tomatoes (and then some!) 

I've not made these before, but I couldn't resist this preserve recipe which promised after 6 weeks that when you eat the tomatoes they explode with flavour in your mouth and are a bit on the moorish side.  It's also comforting to think in months to come I'll still be eating our gorgeous cherry tomatoes!

Now, another thing, about sterilisation - I recently discovered with thanks to David at Green Living Australia that in order to preserve with 100 % confidence you will not poison yourself or others is to sterilise and process your jars correctly:

• Submerse your jars and lids (and at least half of your tongs!) in cold water in a stockpot.  Put on hob until it boils and boil for 10 minutes.  Remove with tongs.
• Fill your jars, do not touch the inner rim or the inner of the lid of the jar.
• Then processing.  When all your jars are filled and sealed, then you need to boil them again submersed in water - this is to kill all the yeasts and bacteria left in the jar/preserves.     The amount of time you need to boil/process the jars depends on the acidity of food you are preserving, how much you are processing at once and believe it or not, your altitude!  There's more information here - The USDA Guide the canning which the CSIRO recommend following.

OK, back to the recipe!

Ingredients:
1kg cherry tomatoes (I used a mix of varieties and some ripe to a little under-ripe, looks good !)
Mint or basil, optional
1 litre cider vinegar
75ml apple cider vinegar
1 1.2 tsp peppercorns
1/2 tsp cloves
1 1/2 coriander seeds
1 cinnamon stick
2cm dried chilli/pinch dried chilli flakes

Method
Place peppercorns, cloves, coriander seeds, cinnamon stick and chilli/flakes in a 10x10cm square of muslin and tie with kitchen twine to make a spice bag.

Into a saucepan, add your vinegar and apple, boil for 10minutes with spicebag submerged.

Whilst vinegar/apple juice is boiling, place your washed cherry tomatoes into your sterilised jars, if you wanted to add mint or basil, do it at this point.

Pour over the vinegar mix when you've boiled it for the 10 minutes, seal and process.  These two I processed (i.e. boiled submerged in water by 2 inches) for 25 minutes.

Store in cool dry place for 6 week minimum before consumption

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