The Preserver's Year

helyg

Well I put it into jars and it looks and tastes OK, if anyone notices I'll tell them it is caramelised plum jam...

Have made some lemon curd this afternoon too.

foxgloves

Interesting about doing stuff with rosehips. I made some rosehip wine back in the 1990s and I seem to remember that I costed it out at 11p per bottle. Only made one batch though as it was sooooooooo strong, even my more hard drinking friends were asking to have it with lemonade in. Eventually, it was responsible for so many hangovers that I poured the rest of it down the sink....and you know, as it hit the stainless steel, it actually hissed!! Killer stuff. Haven't made it since!

Confuzzled

thriftlady wrote: »

Eliza D
It will not taste good for a few months as Gigervamp says. It just gets better and better with age.

Cook it for longer

well not to split hairs here but my chutney always tastes good as soon as it's potted up though it does improve with age, i think she didn't have nearly enough sugar that would contribute a lot

also i can't stand chutney that is cooked into a pulpy mass, mine still retains it's texture and has some liquid to it so you may wish to try cooking it less as maybe it's gone bitter from cooking too long, normally i only cook mine 30-45 minutes tops and it's always tasted very nice, the fruit retains it's texture and as mentioned it tastes good from the get go

never had any problems with it going off either, though i suppose the texture is down to individual tastes, at the very least try adding more sugar that doens't sound like anywhere near enough sugar

good luck!

thriftlady_2

Confuzzled wrote: »

well not to split hairs here but my chutney always tastes good as soon as it's potted up though it does improve with age, i think she didn't have nearly enough sugar that would contribute a lot

Actually, mine is pretty good straight from the pan, but I always mature it.

I hadn't realised how much sugar was in the recipe in question. You're right, not nearly enough. My damson chutney recipe calls for about 1.5kg fruit and 900g sugar.

ELIZA_D

Ahaaaaaa! Maybe sugar is needed. Took me 2 days to get 2 jars of the original batch and at one point it did taste ok although i had had 2 glasses of wine by then !!!!!
Got a new batch in a recipie for the slow cooker on the go much spicier this time.
The recipie stated to cook on high for 4 1/2 hours with the last half hour uncovererd to get the chutney texture.
This did not work for me and finished this at 1 am ( i dont mean to be a night owl more organisation needed !)
got up this am and out from 11 am so putting it on low till about 5 ish.......what ya reckon ?

milosmum59

Preservers - how am I going to get hold of all the jars I need? I would really like to get hold of some 'Kilner' type jars on the cheap. I have looked in Lidl but no joy yet. Anyone spotted some cheap ones?

helyg

Milosmum: do you have a local hardware type shop? Our one here sells jars, including kilner type, reasonably cheap. Might be worth a try?

Confuzzled

ELIZA_D wrote: »

Ahaaaaaa! Maybe sugar is needed. Took me 2 days to get 2 jars of the original batch and at one point it did taste ok although i had had 2 glasses of wine by then !!!!!
Got a new batch in a recipie for the slow cooker on the go much spicier this time.
The recipie stated to cook on high for 4 1/2 hours with the last half hour uncovererd to get the chutney texture.
This did not work for me and finished this at 1 am ( i dont mean to be a night owl more organisation needed !)
got up this am and out from 11 am so putting it on low till about 5 ish.......what ya reckon ?

i've never tried making it in a slow cooker so i'm not sure about that, i cook mine 30-45 minutes on the cooker to get the more textured version of chutney. honestly i'm not sure about cooking something with curry type spices on high heat in a slow cooker

i've always found that anything with a lot of onions in it and/or curry like spices tends to be ruined by cooking on high heat in the slow cooker for more than an hour. with the onions i find it gives it an odd sour twang, with curry spices i find it ruins their delicate flavours.

perhaps if you wish to continue to make chutney in the slowcooker you might try just cooking it for 6-8 hours on LOW. this should give you a pulpy texture if that's what you're after, just be careful not to add too much liquid as it won't reduce in a slow cooker like it would in a pot. if worse came to worse you could always finish it off in a pot on the hob if it was too soupy and you didn't just want to do the entire lot on the hob in the first place (i can see where making chutney whilst at work would have it's appeal especially for family members that don't like the smell of hot vinegar

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi guys been lurking for a while and looking for help identifying wild fruits destined for jam/chutney hopefully



I have picked a bucketful of these (i think they are yellow cherry plums)
and a half bucket of these


(these might be cherrys they have a much smaller leaf than above but a similair size maybe a little smaller)
and there were lots of these but i didn't pick any (not sure about these)

I also managed to pick 2 buckets of various apples some like golden delicious some red and some russet some taste ok raw some quite sour
any ideas what they all are??
Shaz

Gigervamp

It's hard to see the leaf shape clearly on that last picture, but the berries look like the ones in the picture of the guelder rose here.