damsons- need some info please on chutney

mrs_baggins

I just ahppened to be walking down this road and lo and behold saw a damson tree/bush whatever its called. made sure it wasnt on a farmers field and filled up the only thing i had with me. a doggy pooh bag- luckily a new one and empty! So am now the proud owner of maybe a pound and half of damsons.
now I dont like jam but do like chutney and did a bit of a search and came up with a recipie or two but they are all for about 6 lb and as its only me that likes it will I be ok just to cut the amounts in half? now, if the recipie asks for x amount of damsons does this mean after they are stoned? (yeah man?) . thought maybe it might but the delia recipie suggests you dont acyually need to stone them until after so maybe not? As to vinegar is it white or malt. I have both but on the white bottle confusingly it also says malt? thanks all

CLARABEL

hi

don't bother to stone them unless you're v v v patient

white vineagr is distilled malt vinegar...that's why it says that. i think malt would be fine for chutney.

let me know how it goes! sounds delish


:beer:

mrs_baggins

Well I got home last night and did Delias spiced plum chutney- or at least my version as I didnt have evrtthing so I substituted here and there! The recipe said it has to simmer for 2 -3 hours but only did it for an hour last night as I spent so long chopping up all the bits cos I had forgotten I had lent someone my mixer/blender thingy! Will finish it off tonight and pot it up. Dont beleive the recipie though where it says 'after 30 minutes the damson stones will float to the surface' -took me ages to get them all seperated out!

thriftlady_2

I make this recipe but I do halve and stone the damsons first. It takes ages but I prefer it to fishing out stones from the hot mixture. Sometimes recipes advise you just to leave the stones in, but I'd rather not have to spit out stones as I'm eating.

spammeplease

I went Damson picking last night, and there were five times as many as last year, all plump and juicy, too. I picked nealy 2 kilos (that's 4.4 OS pounds) in 15 minutes. I use them to make Damson Gin, and will look up the Delia recipe for the chutney for the surplus. Next up are the sloes, which are also looking like a bumper harvest.

thriftlady_2

I've made 2 litres of damson gin this year