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
I am going to make apple chutney this weekend. Just wanted to know do I have to wait for a month before i use it ?
Hi I have made a lovely Christmas chutney and I think I have over sweetened it – do you have a top tip to fix this please? Was thinking to add lemon or more vinegar? Much appreciate your reply
Happy days!
Angie
hello
Im just about to make your chutney but as Im peeling my apples they seem a bit fluffy!! They have been in my house for just over a month – can i still use them? the taste is ok, just wondered about the ‘fluffyness’ are they off?
Hi Sarah
Fluffy apples would taste ok but they would go mushy in the chutney. I would stick to fresher ones.
Hello I just fill all the warmed jars with hot chutney, is that incorrect? Have I ruined it now?
Also I fill the jars not all the way, there is a very small gap between the chutney and the lids, half an inch, or less, is this ok?
Since I did not read it anywhere, I cooked the whole thing with the lid on, and it came out with a bit of juice, not much and thick, should it had any juice at all?
Anyway is too late now, I hope it comes out fine in a month when I try it again.
It is delicious, thank you very much.
Hi Ileana
Hot chutney into warmed jars is correct! There should be a small gap between the chutney and the lid about half an inch or less so you’re OK there too. I wouldn’t worry too much about the liquid but next time keep the lid off the pan as it cooks quicker and better.
Hi Ileana
I think that adding a level teaspoon of caraway seeds would work well. Let me know how it works out!
I also want to ask you if I can use cranberries instead of the raisins? I do not like raisins.
Thank you
Hi Ileana
Yes you could use cranberries instead of raisins. Just taste to see if you need to add more sugar.
Hello there, thank you for the recipe, I will make it it sounds wonderful. I want to know what is your opinion on adding caraway seeds to the Apple chutney, I love them and had them in a different apple and onion chutney before.
Also, do I mince all the onions or could I leave some of them really thinly slice?
Thank you
This is my third (possibly fourth) year making your amazing apple chutney recipe. My friends love it and it is a fantastic way of using all the apples from our lovely tree. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
just cracked open my first jar, it’s really tasty!
I love this chutney, I made it a few weeks back and ate what couldn’t fit into my jars with pork sausages that same night. It was delish!!! I’m busy making a double batch now.
I adapted it to suit what ingredients I have (ie, I used malt vinegar, which gives it a lovely dark colour)
Fantastic site! I’ve made the hot apple jelly, hot apple cheese and the pickled onions also! My pantry is just about bursting 🙂