Apple Chutney recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chutney and Pickles | 252 comments
Our apples make great chutney
I’m not surprised that the fruit that tempted Eve was an apple. It is such a useful fruit. From sweet apple puree to flagons of frothy cider, the apple plays a major role in our lives.
It always troubles me when I see apples left unpicked on trees. We’ve had a great cooking apple harvest this year. Danny and I have spent the morning picking apples from the old trees in our tiny orchard. We are going to make cider this year and have a go at apple wine. So we left a great pile of them on the garden table to soften in the frosts.
If you do this it’s easier to extract the juice. The ones that we pick from the tree are wrapped in newspaper and stored in cardboard boxes in the shed. The mice do nibble a few but the majority keep through the winter until we need them.
The windfalls don’t keep. Even if they look good they are bruised when they hit the ground. We have loads of windfalls, so we decided to branch out and add apple chutney to our range. As with our plum chutney we wanted a fruit rather than a vegetable taste.
This delicate chutney is the result.
| Cottage Smallholder Apple Chutney recipe |
- 1.5 k of cooking apples
- 500g of onions
- 500g of sultanas
- 750g Demerara sugar
- 500ml of white wine vinegar
- Zest and juice of two lemons
- I small chilli
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp of cinnamon
- Pinch of ground cloves
- ½ tsp of Maldon sea salt
- 8 peppercorns
- 1 tbsp of mustard seed
- Wash, peel, core and chop the apples fine
- Peel and chop and mince the onions (if you don’t have a mincer chop them very fine)
- Put all ingredients into a large heavy bottomed saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
- Then simmer very gently, bubbles barely breaking the surface, until the chutney has thickened, stiring every now and then.
- It is ready when drawing a spoon across the surface leaves a definite track mark. This will take at least four hours.
- Pot into warm sterilised jars with plastic lined lids (how do I sterilise jars and lids? See Tips and Tricks below).
- Don’t use cellophane lids as the vinegar will evaporate through these and your chutney will dry up.
- Label when cold and store in a cool, dry place.
- Leave to mature for a month. The longer that you leave it to mature the better it will be!
Tips and Tricks
<strong>How do I get rid of tainted smells in pots?</strong>
If your cooking pot or container is tainted with the smell of the last resident (curry, tomato sauce etc). Sprinkle with a good tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda into it and add a good splosh of boiling water. Rub the solution over all surfaces and leave for two minutes. Rinse well in cold water.
<strong>How do I sterilise jars and lids?</strong>
The sterilising method that we use is simple. When the chutney is cooked, I quickly wash and rinse the jars and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 160c (140c fan assisted). When the oven has reached the right temperature I turn off the heat. The jars will stay warm for quite a while. I only use plastic lined metal lids for preserves as the all-metal lids can go rusty. I boil these for five minutes in water to sterilise them. If I use Le Parfait jars, I do the same with the rubber rings.
Leave a reply
Hi Marilyn,
Glad you chose our recipe. I reckon that the red onions would work out fine. Just a gentler flavour vis a vie the onions. I reckon that cooking apples make the best chutney.
Love to hear how it turns out!
Hello Allan, Have just googled for apple chutney recipe and yours looks pretty good. Have never made chutney before so it’s a bit of an experiment but have been given a huge box of cookers which I want to use up in different ways. Do you think the recipe would work using red onions instead of the usual kind?
Hi Allen,
So pleased that our apple chutney looks best on Google! What a good idea to sprinkle spices on apple to get the taste, my recipes are the result of whim and luck. Needless to say it is a slow process. Your testing tip will come in very handy at Cottage Smallholder. Thanks.
I think that the cider vinegar would be a good twist. And also the cumin. Chutney is all about experimentation. If you have the right level of vinegar and sugar you can design the spices to suit your taste. I’m sure that forgetting the pepper seeds was not a disaster.
I haven’t tasted palm sugar. Or rather I have probably tasted it without realising!
Thanks for taking the trouble to leave a comment. Much appreciated.
Geat recipe! Last week I made pear chutney and now that the apples are ripe I googled apple chutney recipes and yours looked best. I thought about using cardamom instead of the allspice but after sprinkling a bit of each on an apple for a taste test, the allspice is better.
I did substitute apple cider vinegar because the apples aren’t very tart. And I added some cumin seeds which were in the pear chutney recipe and added aroma and taste to the savory side of the chutney. But I forgot the pepper seeds!
Also, I used palm sugar I had gotten at a Thai grocery and was wasting my cupboard space. As I recall, the palm sugar was very reasonably priced.
Hi Mildred,
I’m so pleased that the recipe worked for you and thanks for noting the yield, very handy.
Hi, I made this super apple chutney today and finished up with 4 big jars (which I think are 1lb size) and 3 small jars (the 8oz ones) with a dollop left over.
It was easy to make and really looks lovely. I can’t wait to try it – I will let you know on November 1st!
Thanks for the recipe!!
Hi Sue,
Thanks for dropping by. A hob diffuser works well with this problem.
We don’t have a microwave so I can’t comment intelligently on your method. Although I am sure that it was fine.
Did you use cooking apples? It shouldn’t be too sweet.
The secret of wonderful chutney is that it needs a long cooking time, the flavours mellow and mature. A bit like wine. If you stir every 10 minutes or so you can set a pan on half a ring if everything is starting to frazzle on a whole ring.
Thank you so much for dropping by and leaving a comment.
I spent yesterday afternoon making your chutney recipe. The only problem I had was that my gas hob would not turn down far enough and the pan stated to burn after 2 hours. I finished the chutney by tipping into a pyrex bowl and simmering on the lowest microwave setting for a further hour. I am not at all sure it needs as much as 4 hours to cook. I got 8 standard sized jam jars out of it. Proof will be when I start to eat it in a month or so – but early tasting suggests it is delicious, though very sweet.
Hi Soraya,
I think that cider vinegar would work well with this recipe, you might need to simmer it for a bit longer as it is a stronger taste.
Hi – would cider vinegar work instead of white wine – or a mix of both?