chutney help

mrsgreentoad

has any one got any good ideas on how to make chutney need help for xmas fair please please also anyone know where to get cheep jamjar from thanks so much x

Pink.

Hi mrsgreentoad,

What kind of chutney are you hoping to make? We have quite a few threads that may help if you let me know.

You might find something useful here:

The Complete Jam, Chutney and other Preserves collection

And this thread may help with finding jars:

Where to find glass jars?

Pink

maryb

hello, I've looked through the collection of threads but can't find an answer to the question I have

Is there a 'normal' ratio of fruit to vinegar and sugar? Some recipes seem to have 1lb of sugar to 1 pint of vinegar while others seem to have 1/2lb sugar to 1pint of vinegar. From what I can see it doesn't seem to make any difference what type of fruit you are using other than that recipes involving dried fruit seem to use slightly less sugar - but even then it's not consistent betwen recipes.

I want to make a chutney using apples, dried apricots and dried cranberries and I'm happy to experiment but it would be really helpful if anyone could give me a steer as to how much I need to make sure it will keep

thanks very much

stiltwalker

Hi there,

There are so many recipes out there with different ratios of fruit/veg/sugar/vinegar so what I usually do if I don't want to follow a recipe exactly or can't find one to fit whatever ingredients I have knocking about I tend to find whichever recipe is closest and alter it slightly ie: change the mix of fruit or veg but not the quantity so the ratio stays the same (ish) I also change the spices to ones which suit the changed mix better. For your wish list of ingredients I would probably start with a recipe for apple and date chutney as that's dried fruit but use apicot and cranberry in the same quantity instead of the dates and maybe change the spicing depending on what the original recipe uses.

My next point of call for recipes after I've checked my books is google, I just put in the fruit veg combo I have in and it usually spits something useful out often from www.cottagesmallholder.com

HTH

Meadows

Hi, can't help with the jars but can recommend this recipe:

:xmassmile Christmas Chutney :xmassmile

Makes 1.8kg/4lb,
Preparation time 30 mins to 1 hour, Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour
450g/1lb onions, peeled and chopped
5 tbsp water
900g/2lb cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
700g/1½ pears, peeled, cored and chopped
85g/3oz dates, stoned and chopped
570ml/1 pint cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cayenne powder
225g/8oz sugar

Put the onions and the water in a large heavy-based pan. Bring to the boil and simmer until soft.
Add the apples and pears and continue cooking gently for 15-20 minutes. Add the dates, salt, spices and half the vinegar. Cook, stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens.
Add the sugar and the rest of the vinegar, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Continue to simmer until the chutney becomes really thick. Stir occasionally.
When ready, pot and seal in sterilized jars and leave to mature for a week or longer.

MrsTinks

I'm making a mishmash chutney right now - I found like you that the quantities vary so wildly so I figured I'd just give it a go...
I used about 1.5kg of green and ripe alike... 2 large onions, 2 large cooking apples, about 500ml of malt vinegar and 400gr of brown sugar (that's all that I had left lol) and in the spirit of christmas... a mulled wine sachet!
With any luck it'll be lovely!

Penelope_Penguin

maryb wrote: »

I want to make a chutney using apples, dried apricots and dried cranberries and I'm happy to experiment but it would be really helpful if anyone could give me a steer as to how much I need to make sure it will keep

This is an excellent recipe She also does one called Dowerhouse, but I can't find that just now

You can easily use that as a base, and go from there

Do shout if you have more questions.

midnightraven3

if you decide to "make it up as you go along" my biggest advice??

write it down!!!


last year made all my chutneys & relish
had a mish mash of stuff left
bunged it all in a pot, added, tasted, boiled, added
you get the gist

result? lush chutney!

no matter what i do, i cannot re create it:(

Bitsy_Beans

Can't help with the chutney LOL but I can help with the jars.
Frirst off try your local Freecycle Group - someone might have a load to give away.
failing that then pop down to your local Sainsbury's and buy this
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries/index.jsp?bmUID=1288945763026

It's a lovely big jar and I think you can freeze the contents (sauce isn't too bad all things considered) and at 9p is a real bargain for a brand new large jar Can't take credit for this find though, that honour goes to Redruby

mi_jardin

As above, ask on your local freecycle site for the jars, you'll be surprised what you can find on there!:)
Apple chutney would probably be a good one to start with as they are in season now and hopefully cheaper, or is there someone nearby who has a tree? you could do a swap, apples for a few jars of chutney.
Cranberry chutney is seasonal too, but more expensive as fresh berries are not cheap.

maryb

Thanks everybody for all the help. I found that Delia has a recipe for pear and cranberry chutney so I substituted apples for pears and replaced some of the cranberries with apricots. It's looking good so far but the proof of the chutney will be in the eating at Christmas. I'll let you all know