Tag Archives: chutney

chutney!

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One of the best smells in a fall kitchen is when you are making chutney. Chutney is sweet, pickley, and savory and it just has wonderful aromas.

For me, chutney is one of those kitchen sink kind of prospects as far as recipes. In other words, what I have available in my kitchen dictates what kind of chutney I make.

Today I made Apple – Tomato – Plum chutney. I had a bunch of beautiful fresh tomatoes that someone had gifted us that we were not going to eat before they got too soft, so I blanched all six of them in hot water to make it easy to remove the skins and then I chopped them up and threw them in the pot with:

  • Five medium apples peeled, cored ,and chopped
  • Six plums, mostly peeled and chopped
  • Four green tomatoes, chopped
  • One large red onion, chopped
  • One large sweet onion chopped
  • One red bell pepper, chopped
  • One poblano pepper seeded, de-veined and minced
  • Four jalapeño/Serano peppers seeded, de-veined and minced
  • 1 1/2 cups white vinegar and 1/2 cup white wine vinegar (I did not have any malt vinegar)
  • 1 1/2 cups of white sugar
  • Mustard seed, quatre epices, cinnamon, pickling salt (1 1/2 teaspoons), fresh cracked pepper, cumin, dill weed, curry powder.
  • 8 teaspoons honey

I cook everything in my Maslin pot. You bring everything up to almost a boil and then you reduce to simmer, and the chutney cooks down for an hour and a half to two hours – I just sort of eyeball it and I know when it’s the right consistency.

I have a vintage cookbook that I love that I use as a guide. Alison Burt’s Preserves and Pickles from 1974. I bought it at a church book sale years ago, but you can easily find copies on eBay and Amazon that are very inexpensive.

When the chutney reached its desired consistency for me, I jarred in sterilizesterilized jars and did the full immersion hot water bath for canning.

Right now my chutney is all beautiful and jewel toned and cooling on wooden cutting boards on my counter. When they are completely cool, I will tighten the lids on the jars and add the labels.

You can also make chutney that you do not put up that you just jar and refrigerate and it’s good for a few months that way.

Fall canning and preserving is so much easier than you think.

Try it!

chutney season

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Today when I was taking down what was left of my tomato vines in the garden I had a bunch of green tomatoes left over, and I decided to make chutney.

Chutney is basically something that is semi-pickled that has a sweet and vinegary finish to it. In other words it’s spicy condiment made of fruits or vegetables with vinegar, spices, and sugar. Chutney has its origins in South Asia/India.

There are many recipes available that are easy to follow. I have been making chutneys much like fruit butters for years that I pretty much do it in my head.

This chutney consisted of eight medium and small sized green tomatoes small chopped / minced, two large apples peeled cored and minced, one chopped red onion, 1 cup golden raisins, 1 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 1 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons mustard seeds, 1 tablespoon pickling spice, couple of dashes of ground allspice, cloves, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, two whole cinnamon sticks, some grated fresh ginger, a couple teaspoons of salt, three ribs minced celery, 2 cups of minced sweet orange peppers that I had gotten at the farmers market, one minced jalapeno pepper seeded, and one minced medium hot pepper that I grew in my garden.

Tossed everything into a pot gave it a stir and turned on the stove and brought up to a boil and then reduced the heat, covered and simmered for 50 minutes.

I then put the chutney into sterilized jars. I did not give them a hot water bath. When my jars have cooled I will refrigerate and they will last a few months in the refrigerator, but realistically will be gone by the end of the holiday season.

I like to serve chutney not only with main courses of poultry and pork, but with cheese and crackers as an appetizer. Green tomato chutneys are especially delicious with turkeys at Thanksgiving.

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