Saturday morning and I’m up early to head over to one of my favourite markets – the grade I listed Grainger Market.

It’s a fantastic place because everything is so bloody cheap. I’m buying bits and pieces to make My Mum’s Red Tomato Chutney.

I must have tried every mass produced chutney available and besides the Caramelised Onion Chutney from Nikki’s Italian Deli on Newlands Road, High West Jesmond and a delicious little pot of chutney I bought from Tynemouth Farmers’ market that was made by a Mrs Perkins (who I have never heard of since!), I have never eaten anything remotely as tasty as my Mum’s own version.

She makes a big batch of the stuff every year and we all beg, borrow and steal to get hold of a jar or two

Anyway, I bought a mound of bright red toms together with malt vinegar, bags of brown sugar, sultanas, dried dates and figs all from the Weigh House and by mid-morning I was relaxing over a quick Illy espresso at Blackfriars (my regular Saturday morning fixture) with the ingredients safely in the bag.

At home, I washed and chopped for half an hour (mum says blanch and peel all the tomatoes – nee chance! I blended the lot – skins on!), whilst catching the end of Saturday Kitchen, before whacking everything in my stock pot together with a big handful of pickling spice tied-up in one of Molly’s muslins.

I put the pan on a very slow simmer and that was it; all I had to do was wait for 3 hours. Well it took about 5 hours (with an intense sweet fruity vinegar smell wafting through the house) to get to what I thought was the right consistency before spooning it into a handful of sterilised jars.

Mum (and Delia) says don’t eat it for 3 months but I couldn’t resist and yes, if I say so myself, it’s absolutely delicious! But, of course, all down to my mum and her now not so secret recipe.