The Preserver's Year

BabyKat

is it that hard....lol.....
try sitting the chutney in its jar in a jug of boiling water for a while that should help melt it a little.....or put in the microwave for a while till it loosens

BabyKat

Beetroot Chutney Recipe


This one works best using white vinegar and white sugar to enhance the lovely beetroot colour


Ingredients:

• 4 lb (1.8 kg) beetroot
• 1 large onion
• 1 lb (450 g) sultanas
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ lb (225 g) white sugar
• 1 pint (570 ml) white vinegar
• 6 peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon allspice

Method:

1. Wash the beetroot carefully without rubbing the skin and cook gently in a large pan, covering the beetroot with water, until tender.
2. Allow to cool, rub off the skins and dice into cubes.
3. Peel and chop the onion.
4. Put all of the ingredients into a large, heavy based pan, tying the peppercorns in muslin.
5. Bring to the boil very slowly and then simmer gently until cooked and thick.
6. Remove the muslin bag and pour into hot, clean, sterilized jars. Seal at once.
7. Label with contents when fully cooled.

i made this a month or so ago and its lovely i go through loads of beetroot chutney

ktpie

BabyKat wrote: »

is it that hard....lol.....
try sitting the chutney in its jar in a jug of boiling water for a while that should help melt it a little.....or put in the microwave for a while till it loosens

It's totally rock hard and has set in the jar, I'm worried if I try to break it up I will break the jar, I bet if I was trying to make toffee I wouldn't have been as successful!

I'll give warming it up a go, thanks for the tip, might as well try to use it!

Beetroot chutney sounds good and I too am jealous of your preserves.

floyd

Those jars are gorgeous, mine always look really ramshackle as people in work give me all sorts from pesto to mayonnaise jars so they dont stack properly and keep falling over!
I have serious preserve cupboard envy! Particularly as I have terrible OCD tendencies so the beautiful order satisfies me

BabyKat

thank you all
would you believe this is my first year of making preserves...lol....ive never made anything like them before
my friend makes and sells preserves and got me into making them
must admit my favourite is the onion marmalade and beetroot chutney though i do like the fruit chutneys i made a wicked peach one and a banana one

missychrissy

Your stores look wonderful but, despite growing lots of my own veg, I never eat any chutney, jam, pickles etc so it wouldn't save me any money to make them.

I do however make my own wine. Set 4 galls of apple wine off yesterday. I made a batch over the summer, 6 weeks from start to finish and it was like a Pinot Grigio. I expect with the colder weather it will take a bit longer over the winter months.

Apart from elderberry i havn't found anything else that produces a good full bodied red. I don't have access to many blackberries in this area, either someone gets there before me or there just aren't many in the first place.

I'm looking forward to the rosehip sherry I have on the go.

I'm going to try and grow more beetroot next year. I think it would make a glorious loooking wine. Anybody tried it?

Gigervamp

missychrissy wrote: »

Don't you need to add any yeast to Elderflower Champagne?

Sorry for the lateness in replying, have only just got back to this thread.

No, you don't add yeast as it uses the wild yeasts on the elderflowers.

Savannah02K

First time preserver here, am planning to have a go over the long Christmas break. I've found what seems to be an easy recipe for the above but I wondered, how long before I can eat a preserve? I know a chutney is 3 months but would it be the same for a 'preserve?' Also, how long will it keep? One more question - please! - do I need a special pan or not? I have a really nice big pot that I use for cooking soups in but I keep reading about heavy bottomed saucepans that you really should have (on the delia website). Is that because ordinary saucepans will burn out if you leave them simmering for couple of hours? Would hate to ruin my nice new hob ............. Thanks, folks.

ampersand

Put this on greenfingered initially, but will ask here, too.
########

A few hours ago, handsome Big Boy pheasant was skittled just ahead of me. I retrieved him and brought him straight back. he's in a bag in No.1 shed freezer.

Next stage please? - I realise he should be hung and left to get high, but as I had to go out again, preferred to have first -hand a/c from all of you, who've done this.

Many thanks.

buxtonrabbitgreen

We were given a pair of pheasants. They were only hung in the shed for a day till we decided what to do with them. Plucking was quite a job. I wonder if it will be more difficult now you have frozen it. I have to say I was too sqeamish to actually eat it but my oh said it was very nice.