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,
This sounds a really nice recipe, I have been given some nice Bramley apples, so i shall make it in the next couple of days. Please could you tell me if you used red or white wine vinegar, I have both in my store cupboard.
Thank you :).
Hi Shelley
I don’t see why not. I’d be interested to hear how you get on.
Hiya
Going to make my first ever batch of apple chutney. Just a question before I start. Can you make this in the slow cooker!!!
Hi Gill
Yes you can use fresh ginger.
Apple and ginger jelly sounds great!
I am about to try your apple chutney recipe that seems so popular. Can I use fresh ginger rather than ground ginger ?
I have just made some apple and ginger jelly.
Hi Ley
It would be OK to double up the recipe.
Hi Bronia
Cover the tops of the jars with a double layer of clingfilm and screw the lids on over this.
Hello Mary
It’s the total weight of apples before peeling and coring.
Glad that you are enjoying the site!
Hi, Just one quick question, is the 1.5k of cooking apples the weight before peeling or without skins?. Thanks for your site I love it.
Hi!
Found this blog a few weeks ago when searching the internet for apple chutney recipes. I just moved into a beautiful little cottage and inherited an apple tree! I made this recipe last night (the wasps were determined to destroy all the apples so I had to move quickly!) and it looks/smells/tastes amazing already. I have a quick question about covering the jars – i only had metal-lidded jars so at the moment I’ve just covered the jars with clingfilm and secured with an elastic band. What should I do now?!
Thanks!
Bronia
Hi
Have 70kgs of apples to process. Would it be okay to double up this recipe for apple chutney do you think?
Thanks
Ley
Hello Kev
Mine has apple bits in it. I think that your simmer is probably a bit to high. It needs to be the gentlest simmer.