Raymond's Recipes CXIX - Bonny Bee's Spicy Plum Chutney

It's that time of year again, when the fruit rains down off the trees all over the northern lands, yet people ignore it and buy theirs from supermarkets selling it from somewhere else very far away for a whacking great profit. It always bewilders me, how people would prefer to pay copious amounts of cash to get their sprayed fruit out of plastic packaging at their local shop rather than go out to a nearby field and shake a tree. In any case, this tidy little lot came from our plum tree at the top of our garden, and a very nice little batch it is too.

This chutney is one to remember - a truly remarkable one that will go very nicely indeed with some decent sausages, a mature cheese or something grilled. 

The beautiful view from our plum tree

Ingredients:

1.5 kg plums - make sure they are halved, stoned and chopped how you like them. I like big pieces, but you might prefer them more finely sliced.
2 large red onions, chopped into short, thin pieces
100g raisins, roughly chopped or even left whole
1 litre wine vinegar, preferably red
1.5 tbsp ginger
1.5 tbsp mustard seed
1.5 tbsp cumin powder
1.5 tbsp paprika
1 tsp chilli powder
450g brown sugar
250g ordinary sugar



Instructions:Put everything except the sugar into a large thick-bottomed saucepan, slowly bring to the boil. Once it is at boiling point, turn down the heat, cover it and simmer for half an hour, allowing the ingredients to soften and blend.



Add the sugar gradually, stirring in to make sure it doesn't sink to the bottom and burn.

When putting into jars, make sure you use equipment that will help you spill as little as possible over surfaces and on the outside of the jars.



Note: To sterilise your jars, wash them thoroughly and place them in the oven on 100°C for 20 to 30 minutes beforehand. Put them in a cool, dry place and wait at least 10 days before you open a jar, as the flavours need some time to blend.

Recipe XIX - Cooking with Fruit: Peach Jam and Peach Chutney

Ingredients for the jam:
8 to 10 peaches (750g pack)
A packet of gelling sugar (2:1)
A tablespoonful of ginger




Instructions for the jam:
Take the peel off the peaches and cut them into small pieces, removing the pips.
Weigh the amount of fruit you have left - in my case, I had about 650g left after step one.
Add exactly half the weight of sugar compared to the fruit.



Put the peaches and sugar into a saucepan, adding a decent spoonful of ginger.



Put some empty, clean jam jars into the oven on about 100°C for twenty minutes.
This will sterilise them so that the surface of the jam doesn't form mould.



Gently heat up the mixture in the saucepan. Once it is starting to bubble, let it boil vigorously for about three minutes.



Remove the jam jars from the oven and spoon the mixture into the jars. Leave to set. To check if the mixture is going to set well enough, put a very small amount onto a spoon and wait for twenty seconds. If it is going to set well, it will solidify on the spoon.


To create a vacuum, turn the jam jars upside down whilst setting. Once set, turn them up the right way.
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Ingredients for the chutney:
The same amount of peaches, peeled and weighed (in my case, there were 450g)
Ordinary cane sugar, half the amount of the peaches.
Vinegar (white wine / apple cider / ordinary) - for the amount, use your own judgement - as a rule of thumb, try half a millilitre per gram of fruit. So I put in 225ml of vinegar.
One dessertspoonful of ginger
A handful of raisins or sultanas
Three cloves




Instructions:
Once again, put all the ingredients into the saucepan and bring to the boil. Leave it in there long enough to soften.
Don't let the liquid reduce too much - keep the lid on.
If after about 20-25 minutes it is still not soft, get the potato masher out and give it a good crushing.
Take your jampots out of the oven and fill them with your chutney.
Screw the tops on and allow them to cool.