Chutney
Very british it is – I had many a ploughman’s lunch in England, which is platter with a chunk of old cheddar, some bread, pickles, meat, maybe a hard boiled egg or sliced meat, and Branston Pickle (arguably the best commercially available chutney).
You most commonly serve chutney with pork in N. America, or roast chicken. Similar uses as cranberry sauce but a rich taste that is more savory than sweet, despite all the fruit.
Info for prepping: makes a great gift. Yield is 6 cups, but we filled four ½ cup jars and an additional 6 1 cup jars! Needless to say, an extra batch of sterilization was required so it took a lot longer to make than we anticipated (~3 hours).
What you need:
- sterilized jars (I recommend 250 or 125mL)
- 6 cups peaches, peeled and chopped (I recommend free-stone. Makes the job so easy)
- 4 cups apples, peeled and chopped
- 2 cups raisins
- 4 cups brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp all spice
- 2 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1½ cups cider vinegar (or malt)
Combine all ingredients and cook slowly, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until thick. You’ll see a noticeable change in colour as it suddenly darkens. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.
I had the pleasure of working with Mom’s two friends from highschool, who were delightful. They helped with all the peeling while I handled the spices. The pepper ran over a bit too much so we’ll see how it tastes. It was also my first time doing sterilization and I forgot to add the ladle and funnel, so we had to redo it. Needless to say, there were three batches of boiling in total.
