My Chutney recipe

[anrol5]

Not sure this is the right place to post, but pricklypear wanted my chutney recipe. I make this recipe year after year, because I like it.

 

I find shop bought chutney has too many spices in, and chunky bits you have to chew. I like a smooth, sweet tasting chutney, one where you can taste the fruit. I want the spices to enhance the chutney, not overpower it.

 

I mix my own spices. I put in a jar and shake:-

1 tsp Allspice

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp Nutmeg

Black pepper

 

 

I like my chutney sweet, but feel free to add anything else you like. The suggestions are:-

Bay leaf, Cardamom, Cassia, Chilli, Coriander, Mace, Mustard, Pimento, Garlic

 

Ingredients:

1 lb onions

1/2pint vinegar

2lbs fruit usually apples, or 1lb apples, plus 1lb of other fruit (plum, peach, blackberry, banana, whatever)

½ tsp pickling spice - add more if you like a spicier chutney

12 oz soft brown sugar, or I just use any sugar I have

optional 4oz dried fruit

 

Chop up onions, and put in pan. Add ¼ pt vinegar. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes.

 

Chop up apples, and add to pan. Add rest of vinegar, and the pickling spices. If the only fruit I use is apples, I add the sugar, and stir till sugar is dissolved.

 

If I use apples, plus sieved black berries, or bananas, I boil up and then add sugar.

 

If I use apples, plus plums or peaches, then I boil till skins are soft, and then add sugar. I was told, whether it is true or not, adding sugar to uncooked fruit toughens the skins of the fruit, so I wait till the fruit is mush, before adding the sugar.

 

Once the sugar is dissolved, I then simmer, till the chutney is like a thick jam and pour into sterilised jars. I do water bath the chutney, but most people in Europe don’t.

 

I guess if you want a clearer chutney, you could tie bits of spice in a muslin cloth and add to mixture. You could then take the spices out at the end, but I don’t bother.

 

I also like a really smooth chutney, so I don’t add dried fruit, but you could if you like.

 

I find that from taking the ingredients out of the cupboard to having finished chutney in jars, takes around 3 hours plus or minus a bit.

 

Sorry I have made this chutney so often, it tends to be a bit of this and a bit of that, with lets just adjust this a bit, and boil for longer or shorter time, depending on how I feel.

 

I love the apple, peach, and plum chutney. For some reason, I find the sieved blackberry and banana didn’t work so well, but my mum loves whatever chutney I make so I pass on the less successful ones.

 

Hope this helps

 

Anrol