The Preserver's Year

mathsus

A chutney for any season

Date chutney

this is delicious and doesn't need much maturing IMO. I discovered this in the 70s when there was a sugar shortage!!

from an ancient Cordon Bleu book, so Imperial measures.

2lb dates - from a block, or stone the ones left over from Christmas.
1-2 dried chillies, crushed up finely
1lb finely chopped onions
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 lb sultanas
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 pints vinegar

mix all together & bash up the blocks of dates. Simmer very gently for about 1 1/2 hours making sure it doesn't catch. Pot.

I've made this without the garlic & it's fine.

angelavdavis

diamondgirl78 wrote: »

Can anyone advise me regarding pineapples? I bought 2 on offer in Mr T's. The first one, once prepared and cut up into little chunks was 870g of fruit. Hubby got me a Tefal jam maker from Lakeland for Christmas and I've been putting it to good use so far

The idea is: chuck in prepared fruit, add same weight of granulated sugar (or jam sugar if low pectin fruit is used), along with about 200ml of water... Well, it came out AWFUL!!! Hard as a rock, and a dark brown/orange colour. Well, it gave my hubby a good laugh anyhow.

I have made nice strawberry & plum jams, plus marmalade in it successfully - is pineapple just a difficult jam to make?

I didn't think you could make Pineapple jam as it was low in pectin? You could always add pectin or mix with another fruit. If you google pineapple jam, there are some recipes for pineapple jam plus others mixing pineapple with other fruits such as limes or kiwi fruits.

diamondgirl78

angelavdavis wrote: »

I didn't think you could make Pineapple jam as it was low in pectin? You could always add pectin or mix with another fruit. If you google pineapple jam, there are some recipes for pineapple jam plus others mixing pineapple with other fruits such as limes or kiwi fruits.

Thanks, I think I'll have to try and mix it with another fruit. I daren't add more pectin, as this jam is too set as it is. Also, pineapple doesn't seem to break down (it stays in chunks) in my jam maker, though I'm sure if I were to do it the 'proper' way involving more time on the boil, it would.

One pineapple down, one to go... Maybe we'll eat it with ice cream and I'll stick with my plum jam.

mathsus

Banana Chutney

Great if you've got one of those fantastic shops that sells loose bananas very cheaply - as I have. I love this, but some strange people are put off by the idea of bananas in chutney, so call it something else if that might be the case in your family! From Good Housekeeping 1978 (oh dear!)

2lb cooking apples, cored, peeled & chopped
1/2 lb raisins
1/2 lb dates
4lb bananas, peeled & chopped
1/2 lb onions, skinned & chopped
2 level tsp salt
12oz demerara sugar
2 level tbs ground ginger
1/2 level tsp cayenne pepper
1 pint vinegar

bring to boil, simmer gently till soft & pulpy - about 1 hour. Needs to mature for a few months.

Just a thought - I'm sure I could use all those loose single bananas in my freezer for this - they were destined for bananabread after a suggestion on here... but now...

mathsus

Gigervamp wrote: »

My friend and I went halves on a pack of the muslin squares from Mothercare and I used one for the marmalade. It worked well.

I always use a J cloth, or a bit of one.....

florain

Pineapple and Lemon Marmalade

Only made this once, some years ago, when we bought 2 pineapples cheaply.
It was really nice. And different.

1 good sized firm pineapple
4 lemons with thin skin
4lb/2kg sugar
3 pints/1 and3/4 litres water

Yield 6 jars

Peel pineapple, cut in thin slices, remove but keep core.Cut slices into small segments. Put in a glass bowl, sprinkle with half the sugar and leave overnight. Wash and 1/4 lemons, cut into fine slices. Put pips and pineapple core into a small piece/bag of muslin. Put lemon slices and bag into preserving pan with the water. Simmer until peel is soft and liquid reduced by 1/2. Squeeze and remove bag. Add pineapple and sugar from the bowl plus the rest of the sugar. Stir to dissolve then boil fast until it thickens and sets on testing. Skim and pot.

PS - MR t has jars of value marmalade for 27p, nice lids on them! Will use the contents for marmalade cake and jars for preserves.

lbt_2

thriftlady wrote: »

Well, the chutney looks great and smells good, it is a gorgeous rust colour. It has to mature for a couple of months so I can't let you know how it tastes. It was immensely satisfying to make though and I now have 6 more jars to add to my groaning preserves shelf in the garage.

Hi Thiftlady

I made onion marmalade yesterday from the RC book, and Delia's Seville orange marmalade today. These were my very first attempts and they are so good that I have been spurred on to the next batch - I was thinking of doing the Hearty Ale Chutney next. Are there any other recipes you would recommend from the RC book?

I got the WI one from the library and photocopied the recipes I wanted, as well as some of the bits at the beginning to refer to.

Would love to know what your favourite/most successful ones are.

Thanks

purpleivy

Well, a good day for preserves! I prepped and cooked the oranges for marmalade. used the last of the scabby lemons from the other week. My Mum is staying and she made some lemon curd. She also brought a jar of blackberry jelly when she came! (and a bag of frozen redcurrants and a bag of frozen blackberries)

thriftmonster

Mathsus - when I make banana chutney, like you I find people can be put off by the name - so I renamed it "Caribbean Chutney". In a similar way when I made some turnip chutney (which was quite nice) I called it "Harvest Chutney"

fedupandskint

lbt wrote: »

Are there any other recipes you would recommend from the RC book?

Hi there, I love the RC preserves book! :j

In October I made the glutney or RC chutney and it made loads! I was worried how it would taste after maturing due to some of the ingredients. Anyway I left it and gave away a few jars for Christmas to rave reviews! I had some and it is lovely. There are some alternatives for other seasons too. It is nice with cheese and meats.

Also I have made the pickled onion recipe. I made these for Christmas too and was v.impressed by the results! So much so when I saw pickling onions for sale last week in the market I bought some more to make. I made them originally with baby onions and a pcket pickling spice mix as I couldn't find all of the ingredients.

Next is the seville orange marmalade this weekend from the same book! I think it is a great book and really straight forward to use

HTH!