Chutney Time

Its maybe a little early in the year for traditional chutney making to start.  Usually it gets under way when there is a glut of things in gardens for people to use which would be starting September.  I no longer have an allotment, but we have a great market and also very good local greengrocery shop: Joe Richards.  It is when I see some fruit or vegetables at their peek of perfection that I feel it is time to preserve.

It is Chutney Making time chez Mrs Mace, for two reasons:  there is very little chutney left, and the jam jar cupboard is full.  The only chutney I had to give to my friend Diane when she came up from Stratford was a jar of Mango which had only been make within a week.

Friday was a massive Chutney making day.

I had prepared all the vegetables for the Piccallili Thursday night, and first thing saw me chopping some lovely small green and very fresh courgettes that I had picked up from Joe Richards.

Then it was all the onions, garlic etc.  Spices mixed and the lovely Biona Organic Cider Vinegar and time stirring it all together on the hob.

Now I need to prepare the labels, for the Courgette Chutney, and the Piccallili  and put these away in the preserve cupboard.  I may just enter a jar from each of these for the Autumn Shows, it will be just perfectly matured by then.

Easy Mango Chutney Recipe

Everything is put into a large stainless steel preserving pan, and cooked together.

2Kg Large Mangoes, just ripe, peeled, stoned and cut into small pieces
1 small dried chillie, cut finely, if you want it hot you can add more.
1 long pointed sweet pepper, cut into fine strips
2 onions chopped small
4 cloves garlic, minced
80g fresh root ginger chopped into fine pieces
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp sea salt
400ml organic cider vinegar
320g white granulated sugar

The Mangoes were indeed magnificent, so many thanks to Neil and Team at the Fruit and Veggie Stall at Kenilworth Market.  So much firm, sweet flesh on these fragrant Mangoes would give a great preserve, however another few days, and they would have been too juicy for the chutney.

I started to grate the ginger, and could see that there were strong fibres, so decided to chop the rest finely, next time I would chop the whole lot.

The sweet pepper is to give the lovely contrast of red and mango, as I only wanted to put one of the small red chillies from the garden chopped fine.

Stir the whole over a gentle heat till the sugar dissolves,  bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, until it is thickish.  It took about 45 minutes once the heat was reduced.  It needs stirring with a wooden spatula to avoid it sticking, fairly regularly.

Put into clean hot jars, label, and store for a few weeks before using...the little extra in a dish left over after filling the jars, will used straight away of course!