Heffer and the tomato glut

Simon Heffer thinks we will look back on a golden age of food choice in today's Telegraph, and usefully evokes his parents' store cupboard. Our mother, too, was a great storer, and it was at this time of year that the shelves of tomato chutney were laid down.

The past few weeks have seen the excitement of the first toms blushing red into maturity, and the first delicious taste of sun-warm and utterly fresh tomatoes from the vine. Every night since has seen a tomato salad on the table, with balsamic vinegar and a little crushed sea salt. But now I'm sated with fresh tomatoes. There is a kilo sitting in the kitchen already, and today I must pick another four or five kilos from the vines.

So today I'm off to get some vinegar and some Muscovado sugar and will get the big stainless boiling pan out, wash and oven-bake the stack of jars I've been saving all year and get chutney making. I'll let you know the results in six weeks or so.