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
Good recipe. Made a batch today with the first of our windfalls. Already tastes great but the apple has broken down almost to a pulp. Is this usual, I would like to have more lumps in the next batch?
Hi Kate
This apple chutney lasts at least a year. In fact it improves with time and we have three year old jars that we relish!
Hi,
Found your lovely recipe for Apple Chutney and I am intending to make it as Christmas presents. How long does it keep for? I wanted to put a guideline use by date on the labels before I gave it away.
Hello Sylvia
Leave the lid off the pan.
Hi great and easy receipe BUT do I leave the lid on the preserving pan whist it is cooking or not?
Hi Erin
Yes you could leave out the sultanas but would need to substitute another dried fruit (same weight) such as raisons or apricots would be good too.
Red onions would be fine, they are a bit sweeter.
Hiya,
Would the chutney be ok if I left out the sultanas? My husband and friend both don’t like them! would I need to substitute with something else?
Also would red onions work instead of normal?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!
Hi Lucie
Glad that you are enjoying the site. Hope the chutney making goes well.
Had a peek at your blog. What a shame about your chickens. Ours are in a large run to protect them from the Min Pins.
What a great site! We are trying to be self sufficient too, having moved to Devon 15 months ago. Things are coming along…. and problems too!
However, just got the last of the cookers out of sstorage and am going to have a go at your chutney – sounds yummy!!!
Thanks so much – will be back again… and again… and again…
Hello D Siggind,
The chutney that you tasted sounds delicious.
I am sorry but this is the only apple chutney recipe that I have developed at the moment.
Good luck with your search!