Tomatl

Culinary chutney of unripe tomatoes

During the summer, there is tomato picking. That's when greengrocers dive into their greenhouses and search for bunches full of juicy, intensely red tomatoes. But not all fruit is ripe at that time. Much of the crop at the end of the season, for example, is still green and therefore unsaleable. Yet farmers don't have to throw away the unripe tomatoes: Tomatl turns them into a fermented chutney.

Not yet ripe for the garbage can
Unripe tomatoes are somewhat bitter and often difficult to digest. Those who eat them may even suffer from abdominal pain and nausea. Therefore, you won't find them on store shelves or on your plate. Although Steven Desair wants to change that soon. He is the founder of Brussels-based food lab eatmosphere, and since 2015 has been constantly looking for ways to challenge the Flemish food system.

Fermentation as the key to culinary success 
His latest project? A fermented chutney made from unripe tomatoes. For this, he founded Tomatl, a collaboration between sustainable food partners. They get the unripe fruits from nature-friendly farmers and ferment them so they are easily digestible. During that fermentation process, you also season the tomatoes and add “healthy bacteria” - probiotics. This makes them the ideal base for a chutney, and therefore delicious as a side dish or dip.